Gypsy Faith

Glass

Maasai in Beads

The artist who did this did not sell it and the shopkeeper representing him just stuck it behind the shop, outside, exposed to cold, rain, and heat. But when I saw it I asked the owner to sell it to me, and then we restored it and had it put CONTINUE >

Jewelry Star

Someone in my compound threw out a wooden star that had a chip in the side. I took it home and embellished it with junk jewelry.

Heart Collection

I find hearts all over the place. I keep them in my mom’s Passover dish beside my dressing table.

Eveready Enamel Sign

There is one big, fat, jam-packed, teetering curio store in Stone Town where you can find the coolest stuff ever. The owner’s passion is enamel signs, and he has so many amazing ones, many of which he won’t actually sell. This Eveready guy hangs out in our bathroom, watching my CONTINUE >

Heel

I love high heels at the beach. If I find them, I take them home. Then the cowboy below keeps it company with this wooden cup from my family on Guam, half a truck I found in a gutter, a black feather boa from my friend Karen who left us CONTINUE >

Altar

After our summer in Koh Tao, Thailand, and my delight in the Thai custom of home altars, I took home loads of driftwood from the gorgeous wooden water taxi boats and fishing boats, and I built this altar. It evolved over time. The green prayer flag was given to me CONTINUE >

Thai Buoy Puppets

There is a little beachfront bar on a remote beach on Koh Tao. The guy who owns it walks around in a Ghandhi diaper most of the time. He made his bar entirely out of stuff that washed up out of the ocean. There are several beached wooden boats he CONTINUE >

Zanzibari Flower tile

These tiles are ubiquitous in Stone Town. They normally reclaim them from discarded furniture and then sell them by the piece. I really, really love the crumbly, old paper on the back of the glass, A lot of people use the tiles to make wooden benches and decorate the back CONTINUE >

Panther

This mosaic represents 10 years of found material collecting and 3 years of my work in my free time. There is this story about a mythological non-feline panther that gorges itself and then sleeps three days and emerges amid a heavy perfume. The idea reminded me of Christ, so I CONTINUE >

African Trade Beads

The first time I saw these, in a teetering curio shop in Stone Town, they spoke to me. These beads are very old, and were used as trade currency. I feel a lot in them because they served as the means for exchange and were therefore carried next to someone’s CONTINUE >

Morroccan Tea Glasses

Whilst in Imlil we would endure hours of really tough hiking and arrive at the summit to shepherds sitting at tea over open fires. Moroccan shepherds can literally run or even jump up the mountain with a sheep on their back. They do not use these kinds of glasses on CONTINUE >