My Helper

Little Man came to visit before we went to Yerba Buena Gardens and Zeum. We enjoy a labyrinth made of hedges, a carousel from 1906 and a 25 foot slide. The park is a stone's throw away from the studio right in the middle of downtown. The perfect way to decompress after a looong day in my studio working on Valentines Day.

Bronze Anatomical Heart

Here is one of my first cast pieces from the early 90's and it is made of bronze, silver with two small rubies. I was very into Frida Kahlo, Mexican Milagros and folk art at the time and this imagery inspired my anatomical heart ring.

Poetry

And it was at that age...Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others, among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.

Pablo Neruda
translated by Alastair Reid

Graduation from Engraving Practice to Real Deal

Today our new engraver, Ben Coulter, started working on actual production pieces after an extensive practice period. He said he just 'got it'--it is a muscle memory thing. One has to have a high level of concentration and you also have to train your body to be relaxed while doing it--you are worried you might leave out a word! Engraving is something that can only be done in short spurts. It can be fun but you can't do it all day. So when Ben is not engraving he is helping out in other areas in the studio. Congrats to our Ben as he sets out on engraving his first real pieces!!

1989

These were some of the very first pieces I made in the late 80's. I found a secret bead store in North Beach called Yone . The owner was an eccentric and artistic soul who had wonderful objet d'art in his window along with a Ruth Asawa sculpture.

I was wearing a pair of these earrings when I went into the very first store I ever sold to, Teliao, on Brady Street. It was next to Bell'ochio where I bought hand dyed ribbons and vintage millinery supplies. The materials inspired me to make these miniature assemblages...not sure what to call them...but the are HUGE. They sold for $80 a pair at retail and each one took a zillion hours to make.