The Story of Anillos
Anillos—the Spanish word for "growth rings"—was originally created as a life-sized ceramic public art piece. Mirroring the rings of a tree, the textures scoring her body were designed to represent the marks of human life experience.
When the original clay sculpture was tragically vandalized, the trauma became a turning point in her story. Rather than discarding her after she had suffered trauma, I chose to honor her history by repairing the fractures using the philosophy of kintsugi, the traditional art of highlighting breaks with gold to honor the beauty in healing.
To preserve this message of resilience, Anillos was permanently cast as a bronze public sculpture, with the gold-filled kintsugi cracks beautifully preserved in the metal. The premier bronze casting was acquired by the Price Sculpture Forest in Coupeville, WA, where she stands today as a beacon of strength and hope for healing.
Custom Bronze Commissions & Institutional Acquisitions
This life-sized bronze healing sculpture is uniquely suited for public spaces dedicated to recovery, reflection, and hope—including hospital healing gardens, public parks, university campuses, and corporate wellness spaces.
Anillos is available for custom bronze casting commissions for private collectors and public institutions looking to anchor their space with a powerful visual narrative of overcoming adversity.
See photos of Anillos’ journey below.
Creating the life-sized ceramic sculpture
Installation day in
Lake Oswego, OR.
Anillos won the People’s Choice Award in 2007 and became a permanent installation in Lake Oswego.
She inspired other artists, too.
Trauma and Recovery
After 12 years of trying, just before the pandemic, a vandal with mental health issues finally succeeded in rocking Anillos off of her pedestal, breaking the bolts that held her there, and she tumbled to the sidewalk, shattering.
I received the shards back in 2020, but it took me until 2023 to finally feel up to opening the box of “evidence” and attempting to put her back together with gold in the cracks, emulating kintsugi. Most of her pieces were tiny and many were just dust. But each time I was tempted to give up, I would find a piece and be encouraged to move ahead. I knew if I could make the face and hands look like her, she would be reincarnated.
At last, she was ready to go to the foundry to be cast in bronze for the first time. When the bronze was finished, preserving the cracks where she had been mended and filling them with 22k gold, she was ready to be installed at the Price Sculpture Forest on Whidbey Island, Washington.
The original ceramic sculpture was returned to me and resides outside my studio in Mount Vernon, Washington, where visitors can see her. Gold was added to her scars as well.
Studio tours are available by appointment or during the Skagit Valley Studio Tour dates in July.