Nagini
Nagini is based on a traditional Tibetan image of the "VIrgin Daughter of the Nagas" (Naga-kanya). The Nagas are the beautiful race of serpent-people, mythic demi-gods who live under the earth in extraordinary wealth and comfort. Nagini is 36" (91 cm) tall. Click on Nagini's lovely derrière to see how she was made.
La Corúa (2024)
She has been haunting my imagination ever since I heard about the serpent, the Corúa, who guards each waterhead. The story, little more than a faint memory, is related by the late University of Arizona folklorist James Griffith in his wonderful book Beliefs and Holy Places, about the cultural province of the Pimería Alta which extends from nothern Sonora State in Mexico into southern Arizona and includes our neighbors who live in the Tonono O’Odham nation near Tucson.
In this time of shrinking waters, La Corúa still guards the waterheads—but if the waterhead becomes extinct, the Corúa dies too. We live in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, very close to the Sabino Wash that drains a large part of the southern face of the range. We hope that our Corúa sleeps during the dry seasons (meanwhile the tanques—small rock pools in the mountain canyons that are the habitat of a unique species of small fish, hold water all year). She must wake when the monsoon rains come in the summer; we can hear the rush of water after a storm when the wash comes alive, and we see a lot of animals and birds who use it as a highway, food larder and air cooling system (coyotes, javelinas, Harris’s and Cooper’s hawks, snakes, bobcats, even once, a mountain lion).
Of course, La Corúa sheds crystal tears, like Our Lady, like La Llorona. She is also a descendent of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god, and of Coatlicue, who protected birth and wore a skirt of serpents. Her face is a sculpted tribute to the late Mexican actress María Félix. La Corúa is made of cardboard and papier mache. Polished quartz and calcite transmit light through her hollow body. She stands on a desert pavement of mica we’ve collected from Bear Canyon, and raw opal from Africa. Her crown is covered with shedded snakeskin. Her face is painted in the traditional Calavera (skull) style, reminding us to honor who and what passes away from us. La Corúa is 27.5 inches (69.85 cm) high.
Medicine Buddha (2020)
The Plague Year felt like the time to make a Medicine Buddha. According to teachings, the healing power of this meditative image is activated by the Sanskrit mantra, tayata om bekandze bekandze maha bekandze randze samungate soha, bekandze. The word bekandze is first directed toward eliminating all manifestation of suffering, whether disease or disturbing thoughts, and the suffering of rebirth and death. Its repetition is directed secondly to eliminating the true causes of suffering, such as the ignorance of not knowing the ultimate nature of the mind. The third, encompassing aspect, maha bekandze, means eliminating even the subtle imprint left on the consciousness by the disturbing thoughts, so that even this imprint is purified and eliminated. I first became aware of this aspect of the Buddha by visiting the inspiring Land of Medicine Buddha retreat community in the Santa Cruz mountains not far from where I lived for 10 years. For me, the act of embodying the Buddha through artmaking is itself an immersive act of meditation. I made it for and dedicate it to our beloved friends Maila, who is a Buddhist artist-activist, and her husband John, a photographer.
The sculpture is made of galvanized wire, cardboard, wood, ground paper, flour, marble dust, glue, mica and vinyl pigments, kumkum powder, ground lapis lazuli pigment, acrylic medium and varnish; glass and silver beads and silver wire. Gems: quartz crystals, chrysoberyl (cat’s eye on vessel) and smoky quartz (mala). The sculpture is 13.5 inches (34.25 cm) high.
Reliquary (2019)
It is known that certain Buddhist monks chose to self-mummify as a meditative path to enlightenment. Tradition has it that these monks subsisted for years on only water, seeds and nuts until being enclosed inside a Buddha statue, surviving for another thousand days breathing through a small tube and imbibing bark and finally a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree. In recent years an antique Chinese Buddha statue was X-rayed in the Netherlands, disclosing the mummified remains of the monk Liuquan.
This work, which interacts in varying ways with ambient light, was expressly made for Sheila, my lifelong friend, an artist whose medium is light and whose curiosity has a spiritual intensity. The constellations of Ursa Major (Great Bear) above the ‘grotto’ in which Liuquan’s X-rayed mummy sits (lower third of the work) and of Virgo and Pisces on the left and right sides, respectively, are placed there in tribute to Sheila’s questing spirit. In the topmost third of the structure sits a Wish Fulfilling Gem. In the center, the Buddha.
Oil paintings on glass embedded in cardboard and papier mache mixed with turmeric, sandalwood and marble dust; quartz crystal points, crushed pyrite, cubic zirconia, 17.75” (44 cm) high.
Garuda
The ancient Vedas tell the story of Garuda, the eagle-god, son of the seer Kasiapa. When Garuda was born, he gave off such an immense light that the gods were fearful. Agni, god of fire and the forge, and the god who puts the world to fire at the end times between the ages, reassured them: “It is only Garuda, whose light is equal to my own.” Garuda soon dimmed his light. He helped Indra trick the Nagas into giving up to the gods the amrita, the elixir of immortality found in the sea. Garuda, with his powerful wings, served as Indra's mount. His food was elephants and snakes. Like Nagini and Saraswati, Garuda is made of laminated cardboard and papier-mâché. He has seven gems, for each of the chakras: ruby for Maladhara/Root; spessartite for Swadhisthana/Sacrum; citrine for Manipura/Solar Plexus; a necklace of chrysoprase for Anahata/Heart; lapis lazuli for Vishuddha/Throat; amethyst for Ajna/Third Eye; and moonstone for Sahasrara/Crown. He stands 15.5" (39 cm) high.
Saraswati
Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of art, learning, poetic rhythm and sacred song. Her four arms hold her attributes: a vina or lute, the Vedas and a mala. She sits on a base ringed with eight lotus-petals. I have given the head of her lute the shape of her symbolic animal, the peacock. After a lifetime of painting and drawing, Saraswati is my first figural sculpture, made of paper mache. Like all of my sculptures, she contains hidden mantras and prayers sealed inside. She carries the constellation Ursa Major on her chest (Polaris, the Pole Star, is on her right shoulder) and the constellation Virgo on her back, made of CZ brilliants. Her metallic surface is several coats of mica pigment in acrylic medium. Hidden under her base is a 180 carat lab-grown cut yellow sapphire. She is 7" (18 cm) high.
Now for something entirely different: Kachinas.
Traditionally, katsinas are dolls representing nature spirits and qualities that are given to girls in ceremonies in the Hopi and Zuni Pueblos in Arizona and New Mexico, respectively, and portrayed by dancers in seasonal rituals. Of course they are both much more serious and more playful than outsiders are given to know. Mine are affectionate gestures, made of cardboard (chiefly, empty toilet paper rolls), colored tissue paper and glue, with added bits of Indian or Japanese silk and beads. They honor birds and spirits around where I live in the desert, whom I see daily–or like Thunderbird, whom though I do not see, I sense.
Datura Katsina
Datura is very commonly seen in central California, where I’ve spent much of my life at various times. Its beauty and vigor have always deligeted me. It grows in our garden here in Arizona and I get to spend time with the plants up close and personal to witness their growing cycle. Datura is an entheogen related to belladonna. Shamans have used it for journeying; medicine folk have used it for dreaming and shadow invocation. This is one psychotropic plant I have never sampled (I have very great respect for its powers). When I decided to sculpt its blossom I spent time modeling in replica the physics of its cyclical unfoldment so I could understand it better. She fascinates me and I see her as a cosmic—and endearingly goofy—dancer. Her blossom head is made out of drafting vellum and is slightly translucent, like the actual datura blossom is. Her dance rattles are datura seed pods (she wanted them pink for some reason). She is 13 inches (33 cm) tall.
The Grandfather Tree Who Was a Lion Katsina
Our grandson Cormac lives with his mom and dad and his older brother Zeke not far from the Big Trees Park in Santa Cruz. Cormac’s mom told us a story: they were visiting the trees, she noticed Cormac standing solemnly and very still in front of a giant redwood. When she asked what he was seeing, he said, “This is the Grandfather tree that was a Lion.” That’s all the information Cormac shared, and here is the Grandfather Tree Who Was a Lion. The Grandfather’s hair (in my imagination) looks quite a lot like his actual grandfather Kenton’s hair, which has a lovely leonine curve to it. GTWWL is carrying a staff with gilt leaves in one hand and a tree gem in the other (raw amber from a mesquite tree in the Safeway parking lot here in Tucson). He is very dignified and you just know he’s wise. He stands 18.75 inches (47.6 cm) tall.
Coyote Katsina
Coyote is everywhere in North America. Adaptable and, to use a wonderful ancient Greek word: metistic—it means flexible, opportunistic, wily, both bold and smart, capable of snaring what it aims for, whether it be lunch or running circles around a human who isn’t quite up to speed. He carries a bucket made from a chrysalis and the needle-woven wool in his belt includes some coyote belly fur that a visiting artist friend from France, Anne Andrault (who has a sharp eye and who also taught me the Russian icon painter’s traditional way to make the egg tempera Coyote is painted with) saw caught on a twig at the oasis nearby where we live. The day after Coyote katsina was finally finished (I confess, for some reason it took 5 years), on our usual daily walk in our desert neighborhood at the edge of the outwash from the imminent Santa Catalina Mountains, I saw a scat perfectly positioned on a good-sized white quartzite block on our road verge. Unmissable, unmistakable signature. I am hubristic enough to take it as a mark of acknowledgement. Coyote is 15.75 inches (40 cm) tall.
Saguaro Blossom Katsina
The Saguaro cactus is native only to the Sonoran Desert. Saguaros are not mature enough to begin blossoming until they are 40 years old. The blossoms appear in May and fruit ripens to red in July. The Tohono O’Odham people of southern Arizona and northern Sonora State in Mexico have a tradition of gathering the fruit, which is usually high off the ground near the tips of the “arms.” They brew a mead-like wine from it that is used in a ritual summer dance. The Tohono O’Odham regard the Saguaro as people and have an affectionate—if occasionally prickly—relationship with them. Saguaro Blossom is 11 inches (28 cm) tall.
Quail Katsina
Gambel's Quail are ubiquitous in the Sonoran Desert. They have a very distinct vocabulary of calls; for 'food here,' for 'c'mon over this way,' or for 'HEADS UP - DANGER!' A male always serves as lookout, from the most elevated position he can attain near the females and young, typically on a rock, a wall, or lower tree branches. They fly short distances and, comically, prefer to walk or run. The topknot quivers when they are feeding (we feed the birds dried corn daily). Quail is 10 inches (25.4 cm) tall.
Roadrunner Katsina
A young roadrunner took up residence on our property and we see him/her daily. A little goofy at first, like all young birds are, Roadrunner has settled into a healthy routine of predation. We have learned that roadrunners, like owls and raptors, are carnivorous. Our resident roadrunner eats small birds and large lizards. I made this katsina for my oldest friend and fellow-artist, Susan. Roadrunner is 17 in (43 cm) tall.
Thunderbird
Thunderbird came to my aid on a dirt road a few miles off the small main highway from Santa Fe to Mora, NM. With Thunderbird's help, I navigated potholes with a low-slung rented car. No parts were lost. Thunderbird remains my road-warrior/protector. Thunderbird is 11.5 inches (29.25 cm) tall.
Hummingbird Katsina
Beloved Colibri, here all year. Busy, vigorously protective of territory, far-sighted, loquacious. We get buzzed when the feeder gets low. Colibri is 6.75 inches (17 cm) tall.
