Current rainy season could be a drought buster, forecaster says

S1: The impact of winter storms as another heads our way.

S2: So instead of 2 to 3 feet of snow , which was what we saw , we could have seen another foot or two.

S1: I'm Jade Hindman. This is KPBS midday edition. Another Tijuana sewage spill leads to South County beach closures.

S3:

S1: And we'll tell you about a nonprofit that helps young people who've aged out of foster care. And the artists behind the multimedia work on display at the studio door. That's ahead on Midday Edition. This weekend. A major winter storm made its way through the San Diego region , which saw flooding in some areas alongside a lot of snow to our mountain areas. But winter may not be done with us yet as another storm looks to be headed our way soon. Here to tell us more is Alex Tardy , warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego. Alex , welcome.

S2: Thanks for having me on again.

S1: Hey , last week we started off with some high winds and then the weekend brought us this latest storm from hail to snow. It seems every community saw something different.

S2: So as you mentioned , it started early Wednesday with vicious winds that knocked down some large trees in San Diego. Then it turned to really low snow levels. We were getting snow down to 2000 feet and some big snowfall over Mount Laguna. Julian Palomar. They quickly got about a foot to two feet of snow on Thursday and then it transitioned into a warmer storm , which we call that so associated with the atmospheric river. And that rolled in Friday through Saturday. And it rained hard. Most areas saw two inches of rain , North County , three inches of rain. So there was a lot of water and as you mentioned , a lot of hail storms.

S1: And this storm , though significant , was forecast to be stronger than it was , at least in San Diego.

S2: Where will the biggest impacts or the biggest amounts of a storm go through an area ? So with this particular storm , it was the location of where that would be. So what happened in San Diego is we got the rainfall. We expected 1 to 3 inches , but the warm air was able to come up from the tropics a little further north. And so we changed over to rain in the mountains and then we changed back to snow quickly early Saturday. But that lost some potential snowfall. So instead of 2 to 3 feet of snow , which was what we saw , we could have seen another foot or two if that warm air had made it in here. And so what we saw was the storm focused on L.A. , Orange , Riverside and San Bernardino for the longest portion of time. And that's where we saw historical snowfall amounts of seven feet up in the San Bernardino Mountains.

S1:

S2: We're almost above our annual total. So normally in San Diego , we see 9.8 inches for the entire rainy season or water year. There's parts of our county now , like in North County , that are 15 to 18 inches of rain and they're already above their annual average. Our mountain areas. Let's pick on Palomar Mountain. They're up to around 40 inches of water. And of course , a lot of that was snow. Annually , they received 30. So we have places in the county that are well over their annual rainfall already and other places that are like in downtown San Diego , right near the annual average. So it's a really remarkable situation. Here we are at the end of February. We're making tremendous amounts of improvements with our drought situation in California.

S1: And like you said , you know , there was a lot of snow that came with this storm. Mount Laguna accumulated some two feet of snow. What does this storm mean for our snowpack levels , which had already been at very high levels ? Yeah.

S2: Statewide , we were looking at two times average for the snowpack. It wasn't just Mount Laguna and Palomar. The Sierra Nevada picked up feet of snow as well. So we're still talking well over two times as much normal snowfall. So what that means is with this cold weather , with this massive snowpack , we will have a lot of runoff even locally here in Southern California , but more importantly in central northern California. Massive amounts of runoff will occur this spring to help top off those reservoirs. It remains to be seen if we can fill them all the way up. But that's the goal.

S1: I'm curious , like what's more impactful to our drought situation , snow or rain.

S2: In San Diego ? It's both. But snow is certainly the top of the list. Snow is more manageable. We can have it come down slower when it rains too hard , like January or even the Saturday. We lose a lot of water , so to speak , into the ocean as it runs off too quick. Our reservoirs in the state , whether they're small ones in San Diego or big ones in Northern California , need that slower trickle that's more manageable. And the same can be said for the Colorado River Basin , which is at historical low levels for water in the reservoirs. That area needs the same process. Local rain helps , but it needs massive snowpack.

S1: Well , we're not done yet. There is a new storm that appears to be headed toward San Diego.

S2: It's coming from the same area , which means it's coming from the north. This one's coming directly down. It's going to be moving into L.A. , San Bernardino this afternoon. The main surge of this storm will impact San Diego on Wednesday with wind , heavy rain showers and mountain snow. But we'll get pieces of the storm starting this evening with some light rain and then we'll see some heavier showers on Tuesday. And again , the main storm on Wednesday , it doesn't look as big. It's as cold. So we continue to have to run our heat at home. But mountain conditions will still be treacherous with additional snowfall coming in over the next couple of days.

S1:

S2: January set records. Palomar Mountain was the third wettest January on record. So that speaks for itself. And across the state , we've seen , you know , half a dozen atmospheric rivers and they've all produced some type of flooding , including over the weekend. We've seen massive snowfall that is right now on pace to 82 , 83 and 1983 was and still is , the snowiest year on record in California. So this is a remarkable year. And it's the flip opposite of last year , where January through March of last year was the top driest year in California for just those three month period. So January , the March driest last year. This year , we'll see. But we're pushing it's one of the wettest periods. And January itself was one of the top , wettest months on record. And a lot of places in California , not just Southern California.

S1: All right. I've been speaking with Alex Tardy , morning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego. Alex , thanks so much for your insight.

S2: Thanks for having me on.

S1: Sewage spills originating in Tijuana have forced the closure of beaches in Imperial Beach and south towards the border for most of this winter. It's been a frustrating part of life for many South County residents for years. What will a recent settlement between the Federal International Boundary and Water Commission and the cities of Imperial Beach , Chula Vista and the San Diego Port Authority do to prevent Tijuana's sewage from reaching the ocean in the future ? Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre joins us now to talk about the details of the settlement and much more. And welcome.

S3: Thank you for having me.

S1: So let's start with the current beach closures. A pipe ruptured in Tijuana a few weeks ago , leading to millions of gallons of sewage leaking through to canyons across the border.

S3: So the current spill is caught , is exacerbating our beach closure. So our current beach closure is related to three sources of pollution , which is the Tijuana River. It's boomtown area and it's this additional sewage spill that's happening. So we're getting hit on all ends.

S1:

S3: But it's not a singular event. This happens chronically pretty much every time there is a storm event. Why ? Because throughout the city of Tijuana , there is a combined stormwater and sewage infrastructure system. So any time there's heavy rains , you have a lot of these collapses that happen that eventually , you know , spill millions and millions of gallons of raw sewage into our coastline. But this particular one was related to construction happening at the border , pretty much in the border region.

S1: I mean , let's talk about this this legal settlement with the International Boundary and Water Commission or I , BWC. Remind us why Imperial Beach was suing the IBEW see in the first place.

S3: Well , because for decades , all of this transboundary pollution impacting us in the entire region comes through IBEW sea jurisdictional property. So for many years we would address this issue with IBEW SI and they would say , well , we don't have jurisdiction. This is an international issue. This is a matter of a different country. So over the years , you know , we kept advocating for solutions and we weren't finding any. So thankfully , we came together , the city of Imperial Beach , the city of Chula Vista , the Port of San Diego , and said , well , you know , at the end of the day , you as a federal entity have the responsibility to enact the Clean Water Act and the Resources and Recovery Act. So they weren't playing game. And , you know , we had to bring them to litigation.

S1: Can you go over the details of what the parties agreed to do in this settlement ? I mean , they aren't really meant to prevent this sewage leak from happening in the first place. Just more mitigation measures , right ? Exactly.

S3: Exactly. So the litigation itself is not like the single solution to it all. However , the terms of the litigation , there are some simple solutions that IWC is able to take action on. For example , there is a sediment berm that can be in place just by moving some earth with some bulldozers that stop some of these lower level flows of the Tijuana River , especially when when it stops raining. Sometimes the river can flow at a much lower rate. And whenever there's not a pump station turned on , which is the pump station C LA , which is located right at the border , that is collecting flow from the river and redirecting it south from us. Whenever that pump station ceases to operate , it causes us beach closures. So whenever that pump station fails , something that I BWC can simply do is is put a dirt berm basically , and prevent those flows from coming across. That's a simple solution that I would say five or six years ago somebody came up with and but there was no policy in place for them to enact that on a consistent basis. So now through our litigation , that's something that the BWC has committed to doing. Another one was alert everyone about , you know , any , you know , infrastructure that was failing or any sewage spills happening in the past. I mean , we see would simply , you know , have a list serv of folks to send an email to or sometimes even VFX. So many of us don't even use fax anymore , so we wouldn't get the notification of sewage spills. So now they are being more proactive in using , you know , they've committed to using taking. That's a little bit more up to date. For example , via Twitter or other social media platforms to inform the public that that sewage spill is happening. So these are little but very significant fixes that they have committed to doing because of our litigation.

S1:

S3: I feel in a way vindicated because we underwent a lot of criticism in the beginning. A lot of people thought , well , this isn't going to fix anything that's going to lead to anything major. And I would say that it did. Am I still frustrated at the entirety of the situation ? Yeah , absolutely. My my community is suffering and and we're very much tired of having this ongoing crisis happening every single day , impacting our lives , our quality of life , our environment , our public health. You know , but we're making progress. And I know that we've also been criticized because of that. Right. But at the end of the day , as someone who's been working on this issue pretty much my entire adult life from where we were 20 years ago to where we are now , I see that light at the end of the tunnel. And that's what's the most important thing for us.

S1: In this settlement , for this suit outlines a lot of cooperation with Mexican water authorities.

S3: So it's important to have somebody at diabetes. We see that that either speaks Spanish or somebody over there that speaks English. So just the basic level of communication that's important to bridge that gap. Mexico has committed investments , serious investments in their infrastructure. That's something that I'm hoping they hold true to their word , because the outgoing governor and she only has two years left in her administration. And I'm really hoping on in the next two years she'll get the job done. So , yeah , it's always challenging to work across the border , but that's why it's so important to try to work as closely as possible.

S1: And let's talk about the other part of this issue in the relationship with Mexican officials to prevent the ruptures from happening and mitigate spills south of the border. The last time we spoke with your predecessor , former mayor Surged Medina. He said a tentative agreement had been reached with Mexican officials.

S3: They have signed an MOU. Back in August of last year. And at 328 , they have a legally binding document where they have committed to investing $144 million to fund infrastructure improvements. They have a priority list. My understanding is at the top of that list is the repair or complete replacement of San Antonio. That was when a sewage treatment plant , which is a very significant source of pollution for us here in Imperial Beach and Silver Strand and Coronado. For me , that's priority number one. If it weren't for that sewage treatment plant that's discharging at a rate of 40 million gallons of under-treated or raw sewage per day , we wouldn't have beach closures during the summer months in Imperial Beach. So it is my number one priority. And I'm hoping that the current administration holds true to their commitment.

S1: And to put this all into perspective and context.

S3: We have reports of folks who have become ill with Mersa infections , with stomach infections , eye infections. I think anybody who is a surfer such as me , we've all ended up in urgent care at some point or another because of contact with polluted water. You know , we we're not even fully understanding the impacts of aerosolized pathogens and viruses. Right. So it could be that even when you're not entering the water , you might have health risks associated when the water's polluted. So it's it's incredibly concerning. And that's why it's so important for us to figure this out , because at the end of the day , like I said , Imperial Beaches is the one that's really suffering the most on a daily basis.

S1: I've been speaking with Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre. Mayor Aguirre , thank you so much.

S3: Thank you for your time.

S1: You're listening to KPBS Midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman. A San Diego nonprofit that helps support young people who've aged out of the foster care system is celebrating its 20th anniversary. KPBS reporter Claire Strong went to meet some of the people whose lives it changed.

S4: It's a warm , sunny February afternoon and light floods the downtown apartment where Dawn Wells , who's the chief empowerment officer at just in time for Foster youth , and his wife and co-founder Dianne Cox live. I've been invited to meet them and their adopted daughter , Bowling. Gomez , who are playing a game of cards around the dining room table when I arrive.

S5: Just wait and see. I am.

S4: It gets a little competitive at times , but the bond and ease between them is unmistakable. At the age of one , Boleyn's biological mother gave her to relatives to raise , and Berlin spent the rest of her childhood in and out of foster care. In 2011 , when she was struggling to adjust to university life , Berlin reached out to just in time for some much needed support.

S5: I don't like making mistakes because I feel like I'm going to get judged. I don't like causing too much attention just because I feel like if I'm as minimal as possible , then I'll be able to fit in anywhere.

S4: Berlin's adopted mum , Diane , helped launch the nonprofit in 2003 , which supports 18 to 26 year olds transition from foster care into adulthood. Diane wants it to help Berlin take charge of her life , so she even taught her how to drive.

S5: We could go to Starbucks and have like a Frappuccino that was like our reward. After we would go out and practice driving.

S6: I just felt really strongly that.

S5: I wanted Berlin to have the independence that every woman I think should have so that she can make her own choices.

S4: Each state is different , but California allows young people to remain in foster care up to age 21. After that , they're on their own. Which is why Donna , Diane decided to take things a step further with Berlin by adopting her in her thirties. Don says he wanted to give Berlin stability.

S2: When you're in foster care and she was in a number of different placements , the whole thing is if you make a mistake , you're out. And so.

S7: Having the burden of that is really. Difficult.

S2: Difficult. So my whole thing was to try to make sure that she felt.

S7: That I was going to be around no matter what.

S4: While Berlin's story is somewhat unique , just in Time prides itself on being a family for the young people it supports , it does things that parents usually do , such as furnishing a client's home , stepping in when they're short on rent , and even helping them apply for bus passes at the Just in Time key. I meet Nathaniel Martinez , who spent his childhood been raised by family friends in a chaotic and toxic environment. He still remembers the night he was taken into foster care.

S7: I remember my mother getting up and answering the door and there were sheriff's deputies and two social workers there with her.

S4: Despite all the challenges he faced , Nathaniel went to graduate school and now works at just in time teaching young foster care adults how to manage their finances. Nathaniel says it's so important to help them become financially literate.

S7: When you don't have the foundational areas of support , participants are stuck in what we call the survival mindset , where they're living from week to week , from day to day , paycheck to paycheck.

S4: Just in time overwhelmingly employs people who've aged out of the foster care system themselves , like Samantha Horner. The nonprofit provided Samantha with a laptop , notebooks and , most importantly , emotional support. While she was studying at UCSD as the first person in her family to go to university , Samantha says having someone to turn to was crucial.

S8: To be able to come in and just be like , I'm. I'm just having a horrible day. And for somebody to look at you and be like , I get it. And then you just have this person who completely understands what you're going through and.

S4: Just in time has supported thousands of young foster care adults since it launched 20 years ago. It now hopes to help other states set up something similar. Back at the apartment and the game of cards has wrapped up.

S5: The Lynn one , and.

S4: She says she's forever grateful for the love , support and dedication of Don Diane and the Just In Time team.

S5: I learn from them every day. I think it's amazing. Amazing people.

S4: Claire Strong. KPBS News.

S1: When organic waste decomposes in a landfill , it creates methane , a greenhouse gas , 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Mallika Sen with the Salon , a Center for Environmental Innovation , says that in the fight against climate change , composting is something we can all do.

S5: Not everyone can afford to put solar on their roof. Not everyone can afford to drive an electric car. You know , so many of the solutions that I think get talked about is expensive. It's not available to the local people right now by local people. You know what I mean ? I mean , like , you know , the average average people not sending your organics to the landfill and making sure you don't waste food is something that each of us can do.

S1: And now this state is requiring residents and businesses to reduce the amount of organic waste sent to the landfill. Many cities in the county are already collecting organic waste. But the county's largest city , San Diego , just recently began to roll out its program. KPBS Web producer Brendan two already talked about the new program with KPBS.

S6:

S7: There are a few exemptions. For example , San Diego County is allowing residents that live in sparsely populated areas to apply for waivers , and that information can be found on the county's website.

S5: While I haven't received.

S6:

S7: If you live in the city of San Diego and you're a city curbside customer , meaning that the city is picking up your trash every week and you haven't received a green bin yet , don't worry , they're going to be delivered over the next few months. And deputy director of environmental services can you told me that all residents will have received their bins by the end of July. Now , if you rent in the city of San Diego when you receive your green bin will depend on your landlord and the private trash hauler that they work with. So if if you haven't seen a green bean at your condo or your apartment yet , just ask your landlord or your property manager and they'll be able to answer that question. If you live in the unincorporated part of San Diego , again , that'll depend on who picks up your trash. Okay.

S6: Okay. So let's talk about composting tips , especially for someone.

S5: Who's just starting.

S7: So for a lot of people , this is the first time they've even thought about composting. And my advice and what I heard from a lot of the people I spoke to is to start small and make it as convenient as you can. At my house , I keep my kitchen caddy , which is the small kind of organic waste bin that you can keep in your house , right by where I usually prep my veggies. That way it's easy for me just to scrape the cutting board right when I'm done. And this also so happens to be near my sink. So it's even more convenient for me to scrape my plate after I'm done eating right before I do my dishes. And another thing that can kind of be confusing is knowing what can and can't be composted. So one thing I have come up with is this little saying if it came from a living thing , it goes in the green. So that means everything from yard trimmings to tortilla chips , egg shells and cheese that can go inside your pen. And that also includes paper. So food , spoiled paper like coffee filters and use paper towels that also goes in your green bin. And things that can't be composted are glass plastic. And one thing that you think would be able to be composted but isn't are those plastic products labeled as compostable or biodegradable ? Those can't go in the green bin.

S6: That's interesting. So when we compost.

S5:

S7: There , the city operates a composting facility called the Myanmar Greenery. Essentially , it's a bunch of pits where they put the organic wastes and they let it decompose. And that's kind of this cool thing where any city resident can go pick up a free , free compost with proof of residency.

S6: Okay , so this one's a biggie for me.

S5:

S6: Yeah.

S7: Yeah. This is something I was really interested myself in , and I think it's a question everybody is going to have. And location and layering are key. Malik Austin recommended putting your yard shrooms at the bottom and then alternating between food and yard waste. This will help prevent your bin from smelling. And you want to keep it in a shady spot. That way it's not in the sun and just getting really stinky. And then on trash day after your bin has been emptied. Remove any remaining food scraps. You can rent it out with your. Close and then make sure to pour the water out on your grass or other landscape area. You don't want to pour it on the street because that will just go to pollute our waterways. And then finally , if you notice your green beans starting to smell , all you have to do is sprinkle a little layer of baking soda on top. And that should get rid of any stickiness.

S6: All great information. Thank you so much , Brendon , and thank you for joining us. And happy composting.

S7: Happy composting to you , too , Debbie.

S1: That was KPBS Web producer Brendan to charity , speaking with Debbie Cruz. You're listening to KPBS Midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Shasta Dam is a crucial piece of California's water system. It holds Shasta Lake , the state's largest reservoir. And it could get even bigger. The federal government is studying what it could mean to raise the dam eight and a half feet. If they do that , the three rivers that feed Shasta Lake would back up even further , flooding many places along the McLoud River that are sacred to the indigenous women. When two people , though , one of them when two people have been protesting against raising the dam for years , a documentary series called The Spiritual Edge from Cal W looks at how the minimum went to land bordering the dam have already been changed forever. Host Judy Silber has more.

S6: The women went to say their sacred sites exist as a constellation. So if one is flooded , all of them can be changed. Those on the river would be directly impacted by a shasta Dam enlargement. But it would also energetically alter those high up in the mountains. It's an outcome that weighs heavily on their minds. Visiting the sites helps them deal with the stress.

S5: We travel back to the river all the time , but really , we don't really have a landing place. We don't have.

S6: A place.

S5: That we can leave. Our things like this is home.

S6: Instead , Chief Céline and other women went to have to travel for more than an hour , starting from the rural reaches of Redding , California , where a core group of them live on this mild June day in 2018. They organize food and supplies before taking off.

S5: A little bit.

S6: Today's group includes extended family members and friends. It's a small caravan's worth of cars with about 20 people will drive to three sacred sites on a mountain that rises above the McLoud River. Chief Céline drives her dark blue Ford Explorer. And as we travel north , her eyes scan the landscape. The snowcapped Trinity Alps rise up in the west. The higher sharp peaks of the Cascades hover to the north and east. We drive onto a bridge that crosses over the Shasta Reservoir , and she notes that with a higher Shasta Dam , these water levels will go up. The water will go up. We turn off the highway and wind through a thick conifer forest before American settlers began grabbing up land in Northern California. This was all Whitman went to territory. Now it's managed by the U.S. Forest Service. We pass public campsites. Then we turn onto a bumpy , steep dirt road and climb upwards. Chief Colleen stays attentive. She slows to look at clear cut patches. She shakes her head at the idea that trees are considered renewable resources. Our first stop of the day is a sacred spring. A small but fierce waterfall pours out of the mountain. Everyone piles out of the cars. People are joking around.

S5: With their cars like , Hey , they're going to play games with. Then what do we got.

S6: On damp soil ? The group gathers in a loose circle.

S5: Everybody got smudged with our fruit that we use all the time.

S6: This is Helen's desk. She's Chief Kathleen , sister. And the win among to song leader of the two sisters. Halloween is the quieter one.

S5: We really use the sage and all that stuff everybody else uses. We use it a root. And she if she sees something about you that needs a little prayers and she'll come up and give you a prayer.

S6: She explains that to purify their energy. One of the guys smudges. He waves the smoke of a lit root around each person as they stand still with arms outstretched. Then another whispers to remember the good things , to listen and speak with their heart.

S5: And we wash your face and hands and then put some water on our heart and on top of our head and say a little prayer there. And helps you out. So it's like a cleansing ? Mm hmm. Kind of , Yeah. Kind of. Good for you. Good for your mind to make you feel better. Just to know that you did that , you know. And you know it's good for you. You know.

S6: We piled back into the cars and continue climbing the rough road until we stop and everyone gets out of the cars again. The men go off into a sacred sugar pine grove to pray. Meanwhile , the women and children stand around Clean Sun Nets II lays out large pine cones neatly in a line.

S5: I know that one the lot. I don't want to.

S6: Have some of the women start chatting about how the pine cones fell early this year.

S5: And we're like , Oh , yeah , the world is off track. The world is wrong. We're not well. We're on track.

S6: The men come back. We climb back into the cars and continue the steep climb upwards until we reach the top. A place the winner Mom went to call Universe Rock. It's a remote spot with towering trees entirely removed from the bustle of modern life. The group pulls out , roughed up metal tables and chairs from the cars. They set up picnic foods and rake pine needles to clear space for a fire on the forest floor. By now , it's late afternoon. The skies are cloudy and at first it looks like rain. Michael Preston , the son of chief Kathleen , sits with his back to a tree. He holds an animal skin in his lap. I ask him what he's doing.

S7: This is Megan Fox quiver.

S6: A ceremonial case to hold arrows made from the skin of a fox he found dead on the side of the road.

S7: For the dances , for the word answers.

S6: Michael is in his mid-thirties with clear eyes and dark , thick hair pulled back in a ponytail. He's a deep thinker. He graduated from the University of California , Berkeley , with a degree in society and the environment. But what he values the most is the spiritual side of life. As we talk , he stays focused on the fox skin. He scrapes back and forth with a small knife.

S7: Good place to work on out here on the sacred sites , actually away from everything and just in the nature's best , most clear way , I guess , to make it.

S1: That was Judy Silber , host of KSL WS The Spiritual Edge podcast as part of a series called A Prayer for Salmon. You can hear more of the story about the women went to Sacred Lands and their protest against raising the Shasta Dam on the Spiritual Edge podcast. Find it wherever you listen to podcast. Andrea over Turf has a career as a symphony musician , but that wasn't enough to satisfy her creativity. So she started making multimedia sculptures from items she found at the swap meet that many would dismiss as just junk. Now her hobby has become a second career , and she is one of the official represented artist whose work is on display at the studio door in Hillcrest. KPBS arts reporter Beth ACCOMANDO speaks with the artist about her work.

S6: Andrea over turf is not your typical symphony musician.

S9: Only me would get a delivery backstage of doll parts at a concert.

S6: Those doll parts then end up in her studio , also known as the morgue.

S9: There's usually doll parts laying everywhere , various disembodied toys and heads and whatnot. So it's kind of unofficially the morgue.

S6: Needless to say , I fell in love with Overture Art the moment I saw it. It would be right at home in the living room of the Addams Family. Embodying the creepy but kooky in the most deliciously wicked way , her sculptures often have doll heads or limbs grafted onto typewriters or peering out from cabinets. There's a sense of life and movement to her pieces , as if inviting us to set them in motion like some elaborate Rube Goldberg device.

S9: I like the idea of things that have no function or make no sense , like Rube Goldberg devices sometimes , how it's just , you know , the most complicated machine for the most menial task.

S6: And your artwork is 3-D. These are sculptures. And describe kind of where you are getting the pieces and parts for them.

S9: So I'm mostly sourced from flea markets , thrift stores , but I also have a lot of friends that give me stuff and they're cleaning out garages or they saw some weird thing at a state sale. Even when I moved into my current home now here , the construction workers saw my pieces as I was moving them in and I brought a broken clock to me and I said , We found this and we think you would like it. So I was very touched by that. I thought it was very sweet.

S5: And when you're walking through a Kobe swap meet.

S6:

S9: I tend to like things that have a good patina. I like something that generally looks old or unusual. Eclectic has has a lot of character and shape to it. Movement. Typewriters are very compelling , of course. I like unusual things oftentimes that I can't tell what they are. So things that you don't see every day. That's what I like. I just like things that are off the beaten path.

S6: Now , I actually got to go shopping with you at Kobe Swap meet. And one thing that you seem to be attracted to quite a bit are dolls.

S9: I guess I have a hearty background in horror and I guess. Something about dolls I just gravitate towards. I can't quite explain it. I just find them intriguing. I've always liked 3D toys and whatnot. I tend to gravitate towards things like that. So.

S6: So talk about your process. You pick up all these things.

S9: And by the piece I mean the source piece , you know , not before I've even made it into anything. So my first typewriter piece that I made was with this really unusual typewriter , this all Oliver typewriter from , I think like the teens , and that has these type bars that are above the unit and it's heavy as I'll get out cast iron that typewriter I saw and I instantly knew what I wanted to do with it. And I knew that it looked like some kind of a an altar or a shrine. It reminded me of Metropolis and of the false Madonna. And so I knew I wanted to marry that with not just a doll head , but like a torso , like this woman. That's kind of part of the machine. And I also was referencing and thinking of this Roald Dahl show called Way Out. And this episode was called Sideshow , I believe , and it was this Electric Woman.

S5: Hey , the one and only Cassandra. Cassandra the Electric Woman. And it takes 10,000 volts to keep her alive. Say my electric bill. But never mind.

S9: She is 100% of human body in a dress , and she's chained to an electric chair and has this giant light bulb for a head. And so that image really stuck with me. And so I just that kind of was where that piece came out of. So that was instantaneous. I knew what I wanted to do with that typewriter. But then there's other pieces like my Cat and Crabbed piece. I think I named it Blitzkrieg , which is the marriage of this trumpet and a cat crab , which is like a hybrid between a tank and a motorcycle. I at least had that cat and crowd sitting around for a while because I thought it was just very cool and weird and I didn't even know such a thing existed. And and so then one day I just I think somehow I gotten a hold of an old trumpet and I was just sitting in my studio. A lot of the times I just sit up there and I play with things and I'll take one large bass , you know , like the cat and crowd , and then I'll start just putting something on there , whether it's a head or part of another machine or a clock movement. And I wait till I can see that they belong together. There's this moment that happens sometimes where I see like , though they're two totally disparate items , they look like they just belong together. And like , I'm not just forcing two items together and just tacking them together , but that that they look like they belong together. And so I love that when that happens. But sometimes it takes a couple of years. Sometimes I am stuck with that piece. So like I have this fan that I just found in our adventure at Kobe's , and I think that's just a wonderful , beautiful antique , and I'm not quite sure what I want to do with it yet. I'm playing with things and playing with ideas , but the fact that I'm kind of having to force it so much kind of tells me I need to wait for something else to come along and then I'll have that aha moment.

S6:

S9: So of course , things with monsters. I really like a lot of vintage looking things , old advertising , really punchy graphics I like. I like this series I have from National Geographic. That's from , I think , the Sixties with these old submarine drawings. I also really like this other National Geographic series of shots that are all these old sideshow shots from the thirties. So I like things that have humor in them. Irony. I understand why people think I have a dark aesthetic or that it's a little creepy , and that's fine if that's what people get out of it. But for me , that's usually just kind of what I find humorous or beautiful. I have a dark sense of humor. I , I just tend to gravitate towards things like that. And I think those things are beautiful and funny.

S6:

S9: I wanted more creativity in my life. I have a very creative job being in the performing arts , being with the symphony. But I guess I'm a hedonist. I want creativity and I wanted more. It's a it's an outlet for me. I've just always expressed myself through art. I'm mostly self-taught , but I did do this when I was a kid. My mom is an artist. We grew up being creative. Together. I would actually sit when I was three years old. I would sit under her drafting table. Back before graphic arts were on the computer. So my mom would say , you know , here , here's some here's some art materials. That was a huge bonding thing for us and still is. We still do art projects together. It's been a hobby. Started out as a hobby. Now I'm starting to put myself out there a little more.

S6: All right. Well , I want to thank you very much for talking.

S9: About your art. Thank you so much.

S1: That was Beth ACCOMANDO speaking with Andrea over turf. Eight of her multimedia works are currently on display at the studio door in Hillcrest.