Oak of the Golden Dream

In My Dreams
12" x 12"
Mixed media
2018

This is one of the papercuts that I'll be premiering in a new local show this fall, courtesy of Santa Clarita Arts. It's not up on their calendar yet, but here's the scoop: September 17 – October 12, 2018, with an opening on Thursday, September 20. You'll be hearing a lot more about it once we get through the summer... but I've already started putting together work for the show, and couldn't resist sharing a little something out here.

Most of the work in the show is inspired by "dreams, prophecies, and visions" – and this piece in particular is inspired by the Oak of the Golden Dream, the site of California's first discovery of gold – in 1842, right here in Santa Clarita. (Take that, James Marshall!) Francisco Lopez and two friends were herding cattle on his niece’s ranch and took a midday nap in the shade of an oak tree. Lopez dreamed he was floating on a pool of gold; when he awoke he stuck his knife into the ground, unearthing some wild onions, and found chunks of gold stuck amidst the roots.

I love the twisty, winding trunks of the oak trees out here, and how lost you can get underneath the spreading branches. This one, incidentally, is California Historical Landmark No. 168.

The comics I cut up for "In My Dreams" include some Justice Society of America (with the original Sandman, Wesley Dodds) and Neil Gaiman’s 1990s Sandman comic which had a very different take on the character.