Local artists lend a 'healing heart'

By: DARRYN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Thursday, November 8, 2007 11:49 PM PST ∞

DEL DIOS ---- After being chased out by the Witch Creek fire last month, glass artists Garry Cohen and Cherrie La Porte Cohen said they returned to find their "Glass Ranch" ---- a sprawling hillside home with an adjacent glass studio and garden gallery ---- unscathed, and decided to create something out of the surrounding devastation.

An idea dawned on La Porte Cohen while she was collecting ashes from her "beloved" oak trees on a trail behind the studio, she said.

Named the "healing hearts," the couple gave 170 blown glass hearts glazed with the powdery ash La Porte Cohen gathered from the trees to neighbors and firefighters at a community meeting Oct. 27. The memento was crafted to commemorate the nearly 200,000-acre fire that destroyed 23 homes in the wooded community between Lake Hodges and Del Dios Highway, the artists said.

"We wanted to give people a keepsake from the tragedy," La Porte Cohen said. "There are lessons we've all learned that we don't want to forget."

The couple said they feel lucky that their acreage, thick with greenery and dotted with glass sculptures and mosaic ponds, wasn't damaged.

"We wanted to do something right here in our community for others, many who weren't as lucky as we were, and art is what we do," La Porte Cohen said.

Each of the grainy hearts are unique, varying slightly in shape and size. La Porte Cohen said the ash was used in place of the colored powder that clear glass is usually rolled in before being shaped and heated in a kiln.

The couple said they are creating more of the hearts to sell Nov. 23 at a glass blowing demonstration at the Glass Ranch, 20307 Beech Lane. A portion of the proceeds will go to the locally organized fire relief fund, benefiting displaced Del Dios area residents.

For more information, call (760) 745-7020.

Contact staff writer Darryn Bennett at (760) 740-5420 or dmbennett@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.