VOICES

Trini arrived from the Taos Pueblo to build the fireplace for the Casita. He described himself as Red Willow and said his mother was well known for building fireplaces at the Pueblo. He asked what we would like, and I responded that he was the artist and should create what he wanted. To this he said, “I cannot create anything without knowing a bit about who you are.” So I invited him in for tea.

He spent a lot of time running his fingers across the assortment of items we have collected along our winding paths, pausing at items that came from other mountainous regions. He was drawn to the hand woven and embroidered textiles created by Hmong in the northern mountains of Vietnam that Grandpa had collected during his times there. Trini turned the clothes over to inspect the back, saying this is the side that God looks at, and that these people were very skilled. He gravitated to prayer beads we were gifted in Tibet, saying they came from a deeply sacred place before listening to the story of how they arrived into our hands and the nature of the people who gave them to us.

He decided to create the fireplace in a form that is traditionally used to build ceremonial fires. We told him that we envisioned it attached to a knee high wall that separated the sleeping area from the main living quarters. Trini sculpted ascending windows in a form that he said were used to hide the baby Jesus. During construction, he looked at me and stated that I was soon to have a baby. I laughed, saying that I never intended to have children, and that he must be mistaken. He approached the project by blending cultural influences he considers sacred. It heats the space very effectively on cold winter evenings, with radiant heat seeping through the back wall into the bedroom well into the night. We are very thankful for the thoughtful and loving consideration given to this hearth.