My Relationship to SF Open Studios
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| Nov. 2015, new friend makes paper boat and visitors take selfiesin front of my antique world map. |
I have been an artist in San Francisco for over 30 years in the same Mission District studio surviving the booms and busts of economic shifts and amazing gentrification in my neighborhood. The evolution of the Art Span venue is also very dramatic. The first time I participated mid 80’s, all SF Open Studios were on one weekend with a single map and no photos of art work to guide visitors. Since then, my priority has been to show fresh work, using Open Studios to present a variety of my ideas, media and styles. I am fortunate to have a spacious art studio within an historic artist community, Developing Environments.
In 1997, Jessie Hamlin, Chronicle staff writer, interviewed me and a few other artists about our experiences doing Open Studios.
Prior to my father’s death in 2004, I was painting Italian hill towns and doing hand-built ceramic portrait sculptures. These were inspired by the exterior and visible world. I now explore inner, unseen realms with the theme of Spirit Boats. The first Open Studio, after I shifted to this theme, was remarkable since most people who knew my previous work thought they were in the wrong space! It made a dramatic debut that was in honor of my father.
The Spirit Boats have generated many heart felt emotional conversations throughout Open Studios and wherever they are shown. Responses are immediate. This timeless symbol provokes story telling. Visitors love to share their reactions and leave with heightened awareness. In 2014, I asked visitors to write their response to the question, what is a spirit boat? 50 different ideas came forward. People ask what culture I am referencing and I am happy to say- “all cultures !”
In 2011, Julian Guthrie. of the Chronicle, interviewed me after my residency at the deYoung Museum and before my spring Open Studios.
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| Hanging collection of boat sculptures and prints on the coffee dripped wall outside my studio. |
In 2005, I became a “Spirit Boatist, one who is on a journey to honor her ancestors in her art by using a timeless archetype signifying movement and transcendence. My paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and installations are richly layered, abstract and introspective in nature and express my quest for wisdom.
In 2010, I developed a technique using plastic bottles as the base form for a canoe, kayak, row or sailboat sculpture. When the plastic is covered with my specialty coffee-stained paper, there is a visceral shift in perception and plastic becomes like leather or vellum. My Spirit Boats are lightweight, translucent and memorable for the boats have great presence and lasting impact.
I combine my art with an invitation for healing. The boat is there for one to step into a safe and sacred vessel that can help navigate one’s future. We all have a spirit boat; we call it our skin. I used art to heal my grief and now share this method with others. My studio serves as the space for regular workshops where people make their own spirit boat.
Lately, in addition to the Spirit Boat, I have been exploring the impact of ladders in my art. As I now have high ladder awareness, I find them everywhere. For me, a ladder, like the boat, gives one a multi-dimensional choice in moving up or down but also across limitless space. It is also easily recognized and powerful in the associations it carries. My latest work combines these symbols, creating new diverse relationships and meanings.
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