Rearing Horse
Caning and sisal, 41 inches tall, 1990. Private collection.
Learning how to make baskets out of foraged material such as willow and cattail got me interested in making sculptures out of weaving material. I was intrigued by the light and porous nature of wicker and sisal, as well as the transparency of the process; you can see the “bones” of the horse. It was also a challenge to figure out how to get the sculpture to balance. (The secret is in the tail.)
Freedom
carved in maple in honor of the spirit of the incarcerated women I worked with in the Prison Integrated Health Program. 14″ tall
private collection
Pregnant Woman
Honduras mahogany, 12 inches, 1989-90. Private collection
I carved this little figure to honor the pregnant women who are incarcerated and with whom I worked as a volunteer from 1990 to 1994 in the Prison Integrated Health Program at FCI Dublin.
Onyx Woman Reclining
carved in onyx from the onyx mine in Panamint Valley.
12″ long
private collection
Beast of Burden
carved in walnut
private collection
Captive Dancers
carved in cordia wood
private collection
Anguish
Piñon wood, 36 inches tall, 1984. Private collection.
Piñon wood is incredibly fragrant and soft to carve, but it’s also pretty gnarly and knotty. Although by the time I carved this piece I had met and married Henry, I still recalled the anguish and yearning I felt when I was living alone in Darwin. I have always been more interested in carving figures not as anatomically correct portraits, but as “felt-from-within” portraits. This approach allows for distortions, exaggerations, and the poetic license to convey emotions, as well as the necessity to fit the figure within the confines of the original material.
Rocking Buddha
Colorado marble on mahogany base, approx 10″ by 14″ by 17″ , 1984. Private collection.
Rather than being permanently mounted on its base, the sculpture is meant to rock, which it certainly did during the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. This sculpture can also spin, and my nephew calls it the breakdancing buddha.
Tibetan Meditator
carved in English walnut on sandstone, 18 inches tall, 1983. private collection
I was interested in carving a serene, buddha-like fave, but female. i remember finding the perfect piece of sandstone as the base during a camping trip to Dinosaur National Monument. it was probably a “no-no” to help myself to the stone.
Desert Serpent
Mountain mahogany and dolomite, 44 inches long, 1983. Donated to Children’s Hospital of San Francisco.
inspired by the view south from Darwin to how clouds coiled upon Maturango Peak. Like Desert Flame, this piece of mountain mahogany already had intriguing spirals and undulations which I endeavored to amplify. The challenge was to nestle the wooden serpent/cloud form onto the stone mountain form, and to pin the forms together at their balance point. Talk about having to eyeball what’s vertical and level when no true vertical or level exist. With patience and exactitude, I got the job done
Goddess of the Screwbean Mesquite
carved in mesquite wood, a dense desert wood. 26″ tall
private collection
Desert Flame
Mountain mahogany and fieldstone, 36 inches tall, circa 1977. Private collection.
While I lived in Oregon, I started to make pilgrimages to visit Gordon Newell in Darwin where he had relocated after the Sculpture Center was torn down. I would drive my VW camper over the Sierras to camp outside of Gordon and Eleanor’s simple wood house at the edge of Darwin with a spectacular view of the Argus Range and the Coso Mountains. I learned to love the desert, its clarity, light, simplicity, silence. I would also raid Gordon’s wood pile for pieces of wood to carve such as this piece of mountain mahogany. This one had grown in an intriguing twist with natural concavities which I attempted to accentuate. The heartwood is a deep reddish brown and sapwood is yellow/tawny; although brittle, the wood is so dense that it takes an incredible satiny polish.
