T.House and T.Tree House

Follies, also known as “eyecatchers,” are ornamental architectural structures created to delight the eye and spark the imagination. Playful, idiosyncratic, and intentionally impractical, they celebrate architectural fantasy in contrast to architecture’s usual emphasis on function and efficiency. 

Inspired by a trip to Japan in 1983, artist Tony May began constructing his own contemporary folly: the T.House, a structure rooted in curiosity and experimentation. Beginning as an addition to his garage, the project evolved over the course of a decade into a hybrid of Japanese architectural forms and the Midwestern barns of May’s Wisconsin childhood. Built gradually from salvaged, recycled, and found materials, the T.House reflects May’s process-driven approach to artmaking and his ongoing interest in transformation through construction. 

In the early 1990s, May created the series entitled Views of the T.House, a group of eighteen paintings documenting the structure’s evolving construction and details, including At Night the T.House Glows Lantern Like. Years later, after collaborating in Hawaii with artist Lonny Tomono on the portable T.Tree House, May constructed a permanent shelter for the work. His painting Fitting the T.Tree House (a) Into the T.Tree House House (b) captures how the T.Tree House fits into the structure that houses it. 

The five works presented here trace May’s inventive practice, revealing how architectural follies can inspire curiosity, experimentation, and joyful self-expression through handmade construction and imaginative design. 

These works are on display in the Cottage Gallery, located near Parking Lot 2. The Cottage Gallery is open Thursday to Sunday from 11 am – 3 pm (or by appointment). If you would like to make an appointment, please email lap_programs@montalvoarts.org.