Canyon Girl

Canyon Girl is my alter ego. She emerged from the deep red rock of the Grand Canyon curious to engage with anything that is ‘Other’. With copper skin, tamarisk hair, feet of bird and skirt of river, her very nature challenges the illusion that we are, in any way, separate from all of life.

Xolo the Messenger

The Xoloitzcuintli is sacred. This hairless dog has lived alongside humans in Mexico for more than 3,000 years and is believed to help souls pass safely through the world of Death, toward the evening star. The Aztecs believed that the Xolo was made from a sliver of the Bone of Life. This Xolo is made of paper, wire, and covered with blackboard paint. It is one of many messenger animals I have created on which you can write with chalk, and ask it to carry your prayers for the journey.

Herald

This woman flew through my dreams, leading me to Chagall, the artist who painted poetry and memory.  With stars in her hair, fiery wings and a river flowing through her trumpet, she joins half a dozen other guardians from some other place who come to me in dreams to protect, welcome and invite.

Prayer for Tina

When I first saw this image of Tina Modotti painted on the back wall of the Chapingo chapel, my breath stopped.  She had modeled for Diego Rivera’s visual poem of the agrarian revolution, posing nude as the sleeping earth.  I had never seen anything like it.  It was too beautiful for words.  Upon my return, I learned that the model was Tina Modotti.  Wanting to learn more, I started with my hands.  I placed her image on my work table, mixed the flour with water and crumpled the paper.  Slowly, with wire, paper, and tape, a woman’s body formed...