Ochas is dedicated to my two grandmothers, Mary Frances and Joan Marie. To my great grandma Margie. To my two great aunties Margaret and Carol. To my two great great aunties Ana and Cora. And to women and girls worldwide across millennia. This is for you.

This curvy map has guided my recent body of work the whole way through. I’ve referred to it daily over the past three months, following the whims and impulses that come after reading it. I have turned down the volume of rational thinking and turned up the intuitive, the experimental, and the explorative across different genres of artwork. I’ve trusted my hands to make and my eyes to read the processes for clues about next actions.

As I continued, a theme of the number 8 revealed herself across the work and in the original map. Ochas is a personal feminine twist on the spanish word for eight: ochos. I like languages that distinguish feminine and masculine, just not how masculine is always universal. So here I say Ochas.

When I was small and learning numbers, 1-10 had specific personalities and behaviors. 8 was the most memorable. With language I have now but didn’t then, I can say she was strongly feminine, benevolent, both here and there, mysterious, curvy and kind. She looked out for the other numbers.

Through Ochas, I salute feminine and female essence, women and girls across time and space. A balance is needed on this planet of both masculine and feminine energies. Through this work, I elevate the fem.

Thank you to my first examples of creative women doing their very own thing:
My mom Suzy, in Santa Cruz and Yosemite
Arleda in Yosemite
Julia Parker Pauite basket weaver in Yosemite
Laurie Zeszut, Katie Harper, KB Abood, Judy Rose in Santa Cruz
Jeni Prince in Kaua’i
And finally thank you elders Katsi Cook for making it all ring true and Mayumi Oda for your constant inspiration. I’m thankful to be alive at the same time as you two.

For insights into the inspiration, effort, shifting conditions, challenges, and delights of this process, come to my artist talk June 29, Sunday at 3:00p