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| The ceramic pieces shown below are from the 2002 Watershed Arts Festival, held in Guinda, California. This work was completed under an Artist-in- Residence grant from the Putah-Cache Bioregion Project at the University of California, Davis. My husband, Dave Nachmanoff, was also a 2002 Bioregional Artist-in-Residence and wrote a cycle of songs inspired by the natural and cultural history of the bioregion. I worked some of the lyrics from these songs into my pieces. Although all, the pieces, including the fish and the fruit, began as forms thrown on the potter's wheel, I had a lot of fun sculpting the thrown forms. The show included descriptions of each of the pieces, which I also include below. |
| 1. Putah-toi platter |
| "Putah-toi, you disappeared/ footsteps covered
over by the farms of pioneers/ Putah-toi…" Davis was settled and the city grew up right over a large village of the Southeastern Patwin people, or Putah-toi. It's hard to even imagine how radically the social and natural landscape of this area has changed. Settlers cleared the land, leveled the earth, and redirected the water as needed. Flat irrigated rice paddies and straight-line highways have replaced the vast tule swamps, rolling hills, riparian forests, and valley oaks that formerly characterized this valley place. I've tried to capture a little of the past and present landscape in this piece. |
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| 2. "Apricot City" Still Life |
| The Town of Winters, which grew up around the fruit business and the railroads which carried the fruit to market, has also been called "Apricot City." Prior to World War II, Winters had a large and vibrant Japanese community, with its own school and community center. The existence of the railroads and the prosperity of the fruit business was owed in large part to Japanese efforts. In 1942, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the community was forced to evacuate, many to internment camps in Arizona and Colorado. The fruit business suffered greatly from the loss of the Japanese laborers. Although personal property was supposed to be protected during the period of internment, the town of Winters soon took over the Japanese school and community and the few Japanese who returned to the area after the war were able to recover little of their personal belongings. Apologies to those who know better for my poor attempt at Japanese characters |
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| 3. Cold Creek Canyon Florabundant |
| "…creekbeds are ancestral memory/ And walking
up one is sweet/ Spontaneous movement." Thanks to Norm Milstein for his lovely poem, "Ode to Cold Canyon," and to Norm and Kate for reminding me to get out every once in a while and check out nature's bouquet. |
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| 4. Glory Hole baskets |
| The spillway of Monticello Dam, which is responsible for Lake Berryessa's existence, has a shape resembling a morning glory flower. This has led some to poetically call it the "Glory Hole." I've incorporated some lyrics from Dave Nachmanoff's song, "Let it Go" into these baskets. The song isn't specifically about Monticello Dam or the Glory Hole, but the imagery works well. |
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| 5. Valentine for Monticello |
| With its steep rocky shoulders, Devil's Gate canyon was the perfect place to build a dam. Unfortunately, the Berryessa Valley was also the perfect place to live for many farmers and ranchers. The town of Monticello was the valley's most significant community. The tranquility of Lake Berryessa's waters belies the physical and social upheaval that many people experienced as they were forced to evacuate their homes to make way for a new reservoir. The reservoir filled in 1956. By then, even the graves of the Monticello cemetery were evacuated. |
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| 6. Canada Meets Mexico |
| "And I hear ghostly fragments of Spanish and
French/ Echoes from so long ago…" At Capell Creek, near Lake Berryessa, the southern extent of the Douglas Firs that characterize the Pacific Northwest meet the manzanita of the Southwest chaparral. Poet Gary Snyder observed that this could be the very place where Canada meets Mexico. |
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| 7. Price of Gold |
| There's gold in them thar hills, west as well as east of us. Mercury, or "quicksilver," is often found in geological association with gold and is also important in gold ore processing. In the past, runoff from the gold mines along Cache Creek and its tributaries carried mercury into these streams. Some of the highest mercury concentrations in California are found within the Cache watershed. Fortunately, current mining practices have greatly reduced the amount of mercury flowing into the watershed, but there's always a price to pay. |
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| 8. Weaving the Dream baskets |
| "Weaving the dream/ over, under, back and through/
Weaving the dream/ Can you hear your spirit voice? / Is it calling you?" Greg Sarris' biography of Mabel MacKay, a world-renowned basket-maker and traditional Pomo Indian healer, is itself a well-woven tale. The book inspired Dave Nachmanoff's song and my clay baskets. I've given each of the baskets my own dream meaning. The hung objects may change as my dreams do. |
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| 9. "Water is Life" (Putah Creek Crossroads) |
| The headwaters of Putah Creek, near Cobb and Boggs Mountain, are the crossroads of the territories of several aboriginal groups. The Lake Miwok, Pomo, Mayacmas, and Hill Patwin people all used this area. Likewise, the headwaters were (and still are) a crossroads for wildlife. Historically, grizzly bears, wolves, as well as deer used the area. The design of the platter shows the topography of the area and alludes to the many paths created by human and non-human animals. |
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| 10. A Tribute to Tilly |
| Woodland produced quite a number of significant historical characters, among them Tilly Alcartra, the most famous milk-producing cow in the world. Tilly broke world records when she produced over 33,000 lbs. of milk in a single year. Like me, Tilly was raised in Iowa. The McKay Brothers sold her to Asa Warren Morris of Woodland. She produced eight Holstein-Friesian calves in her lifetime, one of whom sold for $50,000 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Tilly's life came to a tragic end when an epidemic of hoof and mouth disease broke out in California in 1924-26. She was exposed to the disease while in Los Angeles, where she'd been taken for breeding, and state health officials immediately ordered that she be killed. Many Woodland residents protested the order and mourned Tilly's death. Now, seven months into my own pregnancy, I feel a special affection for Tilly. |
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| 11. Mountains of Time tea set |
| "I've never had a way with women/ but the hills
of Iowa make me wish that I could…" I love these Dar Williams lyrics. Growing up in the flatlands of central Iowa, I always found the voluptuousness of hilly eastern and western Iowa very sensual and alluring. Now the Blue Ridge foothills west of my Davis home give me the same feeling. |
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| 12. Rio de "Las Putas" |
| OK - granted that it's much more likely that Putah Creek was named for the native occupants of the lower Putah watershed. And it really is improbable that the creek has anything to do with the Spanish word for "whore." Still, it's just too good to resist… |
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Phone: (530) 757-6249 |
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