Just an update one of the nitty gritty projects going on in the studio these days…
Nate has been working hard to get the generator hooked up to run his welder and my kilns. Over the past few weeks, he poured the pad for the generator to sit on, planned all the layout for the boxes and conduit, mounted up all the electrical boxes and (as I type!) is finishing digging the trench for the conduit. Luckily we’ve had a few cool days for all the digging work, which would have been brutal a few weeks ago. Next up is laying the conduit, pulling all the wire and making the connections. After that, we just need to plumb in the propane. This is a huge job with a lot of components, but we’re seeing the end in sight!
While I wait for my generator to get hooked up so I can continue working with clay, I’ve been adventurously working with the wood from all of the pallets our things came down here on. To be honest, I’m not the most skilled at measuring and the skilsaw isn’t my favorite power tool, but I’m getting more confident using it.
I used a sawzall to dismantle all of the pallets into planks and then sorted out the super split pieces from the reusable. Despite my ability to measure accurately, I still got everything figured out to make shelves for the studio closet and a few benches for outside. The shelves also required hammer drilling into the concrete walls to set anchors for the ledger pieces, another skill I’m getting more confidant in doing and since everything here is made of concrete, I need to get better at it! The wonkiness of all the wood is great for my lack of precision and I love how funky and rustic the results are. Not only have I upcycled materials, I’ve gotten rid of the pile of pallets that’s been sitting at the front door for months.
And if you look at the little containers sitting on the bench, you’ll notice they are upcycled bottles that I cut to make small desert terrariums with a few little clay forms nested into them too. Now, the question is, what to make next!?!
We had our first big storm of hurricane season come through and while it was less intense than predicted for our area, it did bring with it a good amount of rain. If you look across our desert right now, it appears dead and brown, but if you look closer at the branches, you’ll see the tiny bits of growth starting.
I love how opportunistic the desert is, creating the prettiest, stain glass windows of green leaves with the smallest amount of water. Also notice the very sharp thorns protecting those tiny leaves from being gobbled up. This is just the start, soon the whole desert will look lush and verdant.
The image on the far left, above is a Palo Adan tree, similar to an Ocotillo they are thorned and produce small leaves and bright red flowers that the hummingbirds love. The middle image is a Torote tree which grows prolifically here and has thick trucks with papery bark, small fan shaped leaves and produces purple berries that the birds enjoy. The image on the right, I’m almost positive is a wild cape plum, it has a fleshy trunk and branches and produces an edible fruit, that is supposed to be delicious.
I’ve rarely taken a hiatus from writing in The Dirt since starting it way, way back in January of 2015, but sometimes a break is good and I also don’t like to clog up inboxes with nada, so here we are two months later. Thank you to all of you who reached out concerned when you noticed that The Dirt wasn’t showing up – it’s always nice to know people are out there in cyberspace reading this!
To catch you up, it’s been a hot and dusty summer here in the desert. Most of my time has been devoted to the dogs these days since we officially adopted Cazadora, who then promptly needed surgery but she’s recovered and is doing great. Our morning walks on an empty beach are the highlight of the dogs days and with the water warming up, we jump in whenever we can. While we are missing the whales of winter, instead, the sea turtles have been coming up on the beach to nest, schools of rays have been swimming so close in shore that you can see them in the breaking waves and I even found paper nautilus shells washed up on the beach. Keeping an eye out for rattlesnakes and super weird bugs is also a highlight of summer. As my neighbor says, it’s not for the feint of heart but the adventure keeps you on your toes and the inspiration from nature is everywhere. Now, we hope to get through the September rain storms without issues and without hurricanes, while quenching the thirsty desert!
It’s been hard to make a lot of progress on projects because of the heat, but we have plugged away at a few things. I finished tiling the studio sink counter top, which was a bigger endeavor than I anticipated but I love the way it turned out. Little details like getting artwork up on the walls, designing curtains and making shelves from the pallets we used to move our things here, take time to do but make the biggest impact on the finishing touches of the space.
The most exciting move forward is my generator to run my kilns and Nate’s welder has arrived! It’s a beast of a thing and it needs a lot of planning for hooking up the electrical and the propane to it, but once it’s set up – we will be a fully functional ceramic studio! Wahoo! Nothing is easy or fast when you live off the grid, in the middle of nowhere, but it’s totally worth it.
I’ve realized that I’ve been fairly quiet over here on updates the past few weeks. Don’t fear, I’m still here and there’s definitely still stuff going, but I’ve also promised you that I wouldn’t fill your inbox with messages of nothing – only wanting to give you the good stuff.
So here’s just a quick visual update of the little things that have been going on in and out of the studio and then I’m going to take a break from posting for a bit, so I can focus on all the minutia of a million projects in progress and will promise to share more of the good stuff soon!
found this cool seed pod in the yard awhile agoit hatched!best spot to crochetused tamale cart to become an art cart?fostering Cazadora!she might become a ‘foster fail’ if Bowie agrees
After months of collecting, cutting and planning for this bottle window project, I’m am thrilled to announce …
IT. IS. DONE.
We had over 150 bottle bricks made, laid out in the design plan, set up the scaffolding, masked off the walls, hired our building contractor to help us mix the mortar properly and got to work. It was a learning curve for all of us to install the first window, but by the second, we were a machine. I love the results and how the light changes in them throughout the day. I will definitely be building other things on the property with bottle walls again, but for now, it’s time to take a break from bottles and move onto other creative projects in the studio!
Big thank yous to everyone who keep drinking and collecting bottles for me – I couldn’t have done it without you! Cheers!
It is easy to forget how far you’ve come with a project when you know there’s still so many more things that need to be done and even more things that you want to be done. I recently was scrolling through older photos of our studio build. I realized that it was only six months ago that we were still under construction, with crews showing up daily and the generator rumble and concrete mixer grinding were the soundtrack to our day. And now, we’re working on the details.
Anyways, if you needed a reminder (because I definitely did!) of how much progress you’re making on a project, take a minute to flashback. It’s amazing how much happens in just a few months with just a little push forward each day.
A million years ago, I was making a lot of insect inspired works, like this bee inspired one which bounced when you touched the metal rods. We had just moved into the redwood forest and I think I was inspired by some of the critters that made their way into our home. I made small abstract critters using a combination of clay, copper, steel and wire mesh and loved getting the heavy clay bodies to stand on tiny wire legs. (which is not dissimilar to my current medusa sculptures!)
I also remember making a small installation of abstracted bugs with wire wings that were installed to look like a small swarm in flight. I think there was maybe a dozen of them and I remember wanting to make hundreds of them but for some reason didn’t. I haven’t thought about that piece in forever and I couldn’t even find any documentation of it.
Now, living in the desert, I’m surrounded by the weirdest critters, like stick bugs, trap-door spiders and praying mantis. Just the other day, a wild bee hive on our property swarmed and I watched it throughout the day as they left the hive in controlled chaos, clustered on a nearby tree for a few hours and then in perfect timing they all took off to their new home.
Even though I hadn’t thought about that little installation in years, the bee swarm made me realize that it was time to make that installation of hundreds a reality. I’m not sure of the details, but I’m excited to make some abstract bugs that will swarm somewhere on the property. Inspiration comes from all kinds of places but somehow insects always hold a place in my heart!
We are making more and more progress on the studio each day, and right now, I’ve got extra help. Nate has been working on getting the plumbing system completely online including getting the mini-kitchen installed. And my parents came into town to visit. They are helping install the new track lighting, troubleshoot the ceiling fan and help organize things. So it’s all hands on deck right now to get all the details sorted.
Don’t worry, we are making sure they get some down time on the beach, eat good food and go on adventures too.
I get asked a lot, what are you working on in the studio? And right now, it’s not really on new work, those ideas are always there and brewing, so don’t worry, I will circle back to them soon enough. But instead, I’ve been making parts for my studio. I’m planning on gates for the entrances to our property that will have metal framed rectangular structure to them, but will incorporate pieces from my Bone Series into the open panels of the metal structure. It will look similar to the way I filled this arbor space at a past exhibit, but the gates will be broken up into smaller framed sections and it will also be slightly denser with wire cables and ceramic elements to be functional in keeping all the critters on the appropriate sides of the fence. I’ve been working on the parts for the gates, which turns out to be a lot of square footage of area to cover, so a lot of parts!
I also wanted to make custom sconces for the outdoor lights of the studio, I have three made that are in the traditional shape of Mexican clay sconce lights, but designed with my aesthetic of hole pattern carvings, these will hang on the long stretch of the patio area. I plan on making two more that will be larger circular versions for the front walls.
Right now, I’m filling up the shelves with all of these raw clay parts since my kilns can’t run on the solar system since they draw WAY too much power. Instead, they will need to be hooked up to a large generator to run properly and we are still researching the right generator for the job. But soon enough, we will have the kilns running, all the work fired up, and I’ll get these custom works installed.
While we are definitely working hard on projects to get the studio and land functional and beautiful, we are still taking time to enjoy where we are.
