Borrego : Jill Berry Blog

Last week I went to San Diego to teach and arrived a day early to head out to the Borrego desert to see my friend Carol, who lost her house and everything in it in the fires two years ago. Carol is a painter, a dog-lover and a great tour guide. She showed me the sculptures of Ricardo Breceda, that are scattered throughout that area on land owned by Dennis Avery, of Avery label fame. Dennis hired Ricardo to make these found object creatures and set them on land he had preserved as open space.

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Father Font and his faithful dog

giant warrior dude

Looking out over this otherwise sparse landscape you can see these dinosaurs, piggy families, turtles and this guy.

Carol lives in a modest house with great views. It is difficult for me to imagine being in her shoes, losing hundreds of paintings and her collection of life treasures. Her house in Fallbrook was grand, and filled with beautiful things. The new house is simple, and easy.

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Steve and I happen to be collectors of her work. We have about six of her pieces in our house. Lucky us!

She is still painting.

Carol and I have been friends for nearly 30 years, since we worked on saving the roller coaster in San Diego together. It is saved, thanks in large part to a very small amount of people, the two of us included.

P9175445 We had a lovely happy hour overlooking her new domain.

P9175453 There was a lot to celebrate. Earlier in the day I documented her narrow escape from a certain death.

P9175434 I had not been in San Diego for a very long time. It was nostalgic to drive from the airport, just a few miles from where I had my studio downtown for so many years. The road to Carol’s house led past Camp Stevens, where I worked in the summers as a teen and college student, and where Steve and I got married. My heart was flooded with memories.