Zen garden beauty

There was an auction for the Taste of Marin last night and I raced to get a small display ready for the auction. This was like making a small scone out of thinset cement, rock, and gold. I hand crushed the rock into fine sparkling sand and pressed it on like sugar crystals. I slivered the gold so fine it was like setting jewelry...
for the garden...

I found the bonsai dish at the home of a Japanese bonsai master in Mill Valley. I have visited his home during cherry blossom season, when a huge tree spreads it's canopy of double pink blossoms downturned over his bonsai garden. I stopped by to purchase a bowl for the display. His wife was there and led me into the garden, his outdoor studio with ceramic potter's wheel, his arboretum of bonsai and yes, there was one empty planter that was suitable.

It was perfect, I felt it lent good luck to the project, guiding my creating the perfect zen garden to house the small mosaic. I arranged the two colors of moss, placed two pieces of abalone shell, planted a small Japanese maple seedling. I played with the colors of the moss, the light and the dark, til they fell into place.

(This piece and another were exhibited in the Dwell Design Conference in San Francisco, 2007)

A treasure trove of colors

These granites and marble, limestone and others are from all reaches of the world. The colors range from subtle rainbow, blues and greens, to red, golds and browns, earthen tones from umber to buff, some with dramatic markings, others marbled, mottled, muted, some with flecks of sparkling mica. Whatever symphony is wanted to lend beauty to the home/garden, it may be found here with these everchanging specimens the colors of...

jade...bloodstone...tiger's eye...jasper...carnelian...moss agate... serpentine.. aquamarine.. pearl...topaz...coral...

Working on earth, under sky, bamboo, breeze

This is the workspace outdoors, rock strewn, under a wild plum, in a bamboo garden with breeze that comes from the ocean thru the valley, from Pt Reyes to Lucas Valley. It is inspired and transporting.

It is natural for me to be on the ground, as I have practiced for over a decade a 2500+ year old earth based bodywork/healing arts form. This too is a form of meditation, moving and arranging energy and beauty.

Embedded Gold

The gold has arrived! I open the package and the pieces tumble out in all their glory, rippled, varied, glistening. 24 carat gold leaf is fused between 2 pieces of glass melted in the kiln, it glows with all the ancient beauty of its tradition taking mosaics to sublime dimensions. I will cut the glass into the unique and creative sliver accents that add the precious touch between the rocks of the mosaic. Pavimento, as it is called in the Italian tradition, goes back to Byzantine times, and has a thicker layer of glass over the gold, suitable for underfoot.

In keeping with the eco-motif of my work, I ordered "seconds", just as beautiful, irregular pieces representing the "re-use, reclaim, re-cycle" ethic I am practicing in my production.

Welcome to Rare Earth, Environmental Artistry, 100% Reclaimed Rare Stone

Reflected sky and trees on brown granite...

The first nations peoples have a saying:
Walk with beauty above you, beauty below you, beauty in front of you, beauty behind you, beauty all around you, beauty within you.

You are about to see splendour below you. Walking on beauty is a wonderful thing, walking on art is a completely unique thing. In addition to walking in pure mother nature, these "walk in beauty" stepping stone art pieces complement and add conscious beauty to the landscape, and are a reminder to walk in beauty.

Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Han reminds us of walking meditation, to let every footstep be like the seal of an emperor/empress, impressing peace on earth.

First nation people call rocks "the stone people", who live their lives among the four leggeds, animals, and two leggeds, humans -and, when using them, honor them in a sacred way as they do all parts of creation.

These rocks too are honored in a sacred way, as these pieces are completely handcrafted by environmental artist Kimberly Call in Marin County, California, of 100% reclaimed rare stone - varieties from all over the world, rescued from building industries - that would otherwise have gone into landfill.

All pieces for the mosaic work are hand cut and worked on meditatively by one contemplative artist, no power tools here! Kimberly works from a beautiful private home healing arts studio designed as a temple set in tranquil gardens in beautiful Lucas Valley, where peaceful birdsong, bamboo, and breezes from the ocean inspire the transcendent quality of the work.


Kimberly is a lifelong admirer and practitioner of Japanese Haiku poetry, and the Japanese "wabi sabi" aesthetic, which reveres natural simplicity, imperfection, and transcendence. Each stone could be said to be a poem, moments in time, of beauty, reflection, stillness.

Each piece is unique and one of a kind. Kimberly works in color theme series, creating original and organic compositions inspired by each slab of stone - exquisite multi-hued rainbows of vibrant natural colors - golds, reds, blues, greens, black, brown, cream and white with swirls and flecks of metallics, crystals, violet. Her style is both simple and complex, nature inspired as fractiles are, as the stone fractures naturally in working with it, and so the mosaic patterns echo the patterns of nature.

Each stone is unique, and there may be just one to several pieces crafted from each. You may request color themes and pre-purchase your stones and you will be placed on the waiting list for that color to appear in the collecting of reclaimed stone. The beauty of their variety of colors and patterns are unrivaled functional art to accent home and garden.

Custom shapes, sizes, and commissioned work available for patios and pathways, tabletops and other furnishings, poolside and other residential, commercial or public installations.

Kimberly Call
Marin County Green Certified Business
Rare Earth Artisanal Designs
415-499-0480