Artist for Rivers, Watersheds, Cultural Change

Paola Berthoin was born in London, England, and came to Carmel Valley in 1965 with her mother and three sisters. She is a graduate of Carmel High School and California College of the Arts where she specialized in printmaking, handmade paper and animal drawing. Paola has studied ecological design and permaculture with Dr. David Orr and John Todd at Schumacher College in England and with Penny Livingston and Brock Dolman at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. 

 

Paola’s deep commitment to living in the Carmel Valley over the past fifty years and tending the land she lives on for the past fifty has infused her visionary ways of interpreting the land through painting, writing, and advocacy for all watersheds of the Earth. From being a pastry chef and owning and running a restaurant with her mother when Paola was twenty-four years old to establishing the organization, RisingLeaf Watershed Arts in 2001, completing Passion for Place: Community Reflections on the Carmel River Watershed in 2012, and organizing community arts events focused on the Carmel River Watershed, many seeds of ecological awareness through the arts have been and continue to be planted locally and globally.

 

Paola’s recent artworks document the historic San Clemente Dam Removal/Carmel River Reroute Project and her largest commission to date, a 36" x 62" painting of the north hills of Carmel Valley. She documented the former Wolter Agricultural land and September Ranch open field area that are now being turned into developments. She is also creating bird portraits of the climate threatened and endangered birds identified by the Audubon Society, starting with birds she experiences visiting her gardens.

Along with her painting, Paola worked with metal artists Richard Schrader and Fred Saunders to create the historic public art sculpture :"Transformation in Restoration".  It was forged with rebar and other steel from the former San Clemente Dam. It is installed at the Palo Corona Regional Park.

 

 

Artist Statement

 

My art is about love of the land and rivers. By living in one place for fifty years, that place has come to reside in me. Ephemeral light, patterns, shapes, movement, relationships of colors inspire me to respond to the innate urge to create, to be actively engaged in the dynamics of the natural world. 

 

Spending time outside reminds me of our place in the grand scheme of things. We live in a more-than-human world. When a wild place has been gentrified or destroyed, I feel that violation for the plants and animals that depended on that land or waterway. My art encompasses a dedication to protecting what I can, through active caring for the land and through expressing my imagination through creative endeavors. 

 

In sharing a commitment for healthy watersheds, it helps foster a cultural shift where the natural world becomes integral to people's lives. 

 

 

 

"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction."

                                                                                                                                                                                                         - Rachel Carson