CURRENT MISSION

Share what I know, make funny & sometimes beautiful clothing from salvaged textiles, lace, & various remnants and, enjoy life!

ABOUT ME
Just completed four years of opening a space & running opensecretstudios.com. I took on this space for the purpose of supporting organizations making differences in the domains of art, culture & humanitarian causes by providing a beautiful platform which I worked passionately to create and maintain. I was the front office, overseer, manager, skipper, shepherd, imagineer, admin, curator, hall monitor, arbiter, concierge, and needles to say was insanely busy.
Now for something completely different
🏊🏼🌻🎨✨🙋🏼

This was my previous life and project :
I live in an industrial building, I have a large collection of vintage clothing from New York City, L.A., San Fransisco &, the Midwest which I sell out of my space. I repurpose clothing & textiles for clients & fashion shows but not ALL the time. I began learning massage therapy in '78, gave massage for free for the first three years... then I road my bicycle down the West Coast and discovered people were getting paid for this massage stuff. Back then there was only one massage book! I've practiced massage therapy for thirty years now and have worked on all kinds of people in film, music, fashion and, art and professional athletes.

PHILOSOPHY

Do what I say I'm going to do. Listen. I really prefer the truth.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Since I love art so much... making and seeing it that is, I can generally invite people to come to the building where my studio is and introduce interested folks to some of the other artists working here. It's a pretty open and friendly group of people here.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I can now say I've officially couchsurfed and loved it! It really made me want to move to L.A.! I felt so welcome and it really put me at ease with all the things I was set up to accomplish on this trip.

I couch surfed years ago in Europe, before signing up here. I traveled for four months and camped out but was invited to stay with many people and it really made me see that people felt happy and safe around me. I traveled through France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Germany, Holland &, Belgium.

Interests

I love salsa dancing & dancing in general, art, design, bicycle riding, cooking, gardening, canning... even weeding, nature & being inspired by it, TREES, collaging clothing into a new art form... to be worn.

• arts
• books
• design
• fashion
• dancing
• salsa dancing
• humanitarian relief
• human rights
• cooking
• yoga
• massage therapy
• gardening
• clothing
• traveling
• music
• teaching
• humanity

Music, Movies, and Books

Love all kinds of music, can live without a lot of rock but I like some. Listen to everything from Jonny Cash to Orchestra Bao Bob to the Ethiopiques.

I really like David Sedaris, I find true stories most interesting.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I met Dayton Hyde who saves wild mustangs, he lives in South Dakota, a true living legend! Google him!

I volunteered in New York after September 11th for three and a half weeks.

I rode my bicycle down the West Coast. I've met many wonderful people practicing massage therapy.

I've found a woman with whom I will be collaborating and designing one of a kind pieces. I'm very excited to see what we spin together!

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to teach massage. I love to take people to look @ art in general. I love to cook. I love to learn to cook, especially while traveling! I love to trade private yoga classes for massage therapy or vintage clothing from my collection.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I am currently living with friends while I design the next chapter. I'm interested in spending time in Detroit to see if I can organize a group of people to fabricate purses from an extensive antique Japanese textile collection.

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