Another one-of-a-kind Healdsburg resident passed away earlier this month from cancer at age 77, according to the Press Democrat: local textile artist and art teacher Sylvia Seventy. The fascinating, multimedia, Pomo-inspired “vessels” she made (pictured above and below) became quite well-known in certain circles of the art world, and art students here in Sonoma County were lucky enough to be able to take classes from her at Santa Rosa Junior College. In fact, I once had her as my own teacher in high school, when she was teaching a J.C. class at Healdsburg High. She had a combined gentleness and spark when it came to the art that I’ll never forget. Here’s more about her life and work, from the “arttextstyle” blog:
Seventy wrote in 2011 about her relationship to papermaking. “Paper has long been an inspiration for me,” she wrote. “Paper dolls, paper Christmas tree ornaments, scrap books, pen pal letters, stamp collecting, jigsaw puzzles, photo albums, paper snowflakes, forts made of cardboard boxes and rolling head-over-toes in giant cardboard cylindrical containers down the length of the 40-foot driveway slope to crash-stop into the garage door, are all early memories of paper becoming an essence in my life.”
In 1973, when she moved north from southern California to Healdsburg, she discovered the Pomo Indian culture. She wrote of that discovery in 2012, “In my first basketry class at the local ‘Indian School,’ Mabel McKay, instructor and tribal leader, asked me if I had an awl. She showed me hers, passed down for generations. I returned to the next class with an altered antique screwdriver I turned on a grinder and then finely sanded into a very authentic awl. She was impressed, and I saw my artistic path continuing ahead of me. I still use my awl as I assemble my vessels.”
Seventy’s vessels were created over molds, earthy bowl shapes, embedded with bamboo, cotton cord and sisal. “When I started making my vessels, it soon became evident to me that the universal shape of what appeared to be an ancient pottery bowl was an approachable path for the viewer. With or without an art background, my bowls allowed people to let their guard down and be drawn into the complexity of the art vessel, its intricate interior and conceptual allusion.”
Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Healdsburg Tribune, called Healdsburg Today. Subscribe here.
