Pop Culture meets Ancient Folk Art at Hospice Homes & Art Tour
Santa Paula News
Published: April 09, 2008
Everyone has something they collect, from porcelain dolls to Dodger ticket stubs, from rare coins to antique photographs. For Santa Paula Police Lieutenant Carlos Juarez it’s vintage lunchboxes; his wife Heidi collects - and creates - delicate Ukrainian painted eggs.
Pop culture meets ancient folk art at the Juarez’s home (1320 Holly Road), where those with a passion for collecting will experience what others love at the Santa Clara Valley Hospice/Home Support Group 25th Annual Homes & Art of Santa Paula Tour, Sunday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
It will be easy to spot the Juarez home. Head turning 1955 Mercury police and fire patrol cars will be parked outside, so perfectly turned out that one would never guess they’ve never been in service.
The garage is where Carlos’ 400 plus lunchboxes trace the history of portable food, even the oval tin holders used by miners in the 1930s, but it’s those character lunchboxes that comprise the bulk of Carlos’ collection. “It was 1950 when they started making the square boxes with the pictures,” says Carlos, who owns a rare Hopalong Cassidy as well as Tom Corbett/Space Cadet.
In the late 1980s, Carlos discovered lunchboxes at a Pomona swap meet: “Adam 12” and “Emergency!” lunchboxes caught the lieutenant’s eye and a passion was born. Carlos knows the history of each lunchbox he owns, from Roy Rogers to Hee Haw to Lassie to Donnie and Marie. Sesame Street, the Boston Red Sox, Kung Fu, Lost in Space, Dick Tracy, Pinewood Derby Car, Howdy Doody, Archie lunchboxes, even a 1952 Volkswagen Beetle dome model, line the walls.
In 1993 Carlos fulfilled his personal quest, a Green Hornet lunchbox, evoking memories of the one his mother filled with goodies when he was a schoolboy, purchased at a Clovis antique store. “They bring back memories, and once you start collecting lunchboxes it’s pretty hard to stop,” Carlos admits.
Other delights to be featured at the Juarez home are a 1/29th scale model of Santa Paula’s historic Depot, crafted by Wes Easley, as well as Heidi’s Ukrainian intricate painted eggs, an art learned from her Czechoslovakian grandmother. “I have to order the dye online,” confides Heidi, as she carefully palms a personal favorite, a hardboiled egg with swirls of color against a black background.
Ukrainian eggs are traditionally made at Easter, and the finished product contains “lots of symbols and patterns,” many with roots in the small villages where primitive Slavic people escaped the grueling agricultural life through artistic pastimes. The Ukrainian folk art of “pysanky” was part of the celebration of spring and to invoke the goodwill of Mother Nature.
“Certain patterns mean certain things,” and some tell a story says Heidi, who uses “traditional tools” in the process. Portions of the egg to remain white are covered with beeswax and progressively darker dyes are used through the design process, which includes pattern design, applications of more beeswax, and dye dipping.
When the dye process is complete, the egg is placed over a flame to burn off the wax. “You have to be very careful so you don’t scorch or drop the egg!” warns Heidi. “When you start burning out is when you really start seeing what you did,” through the intricate process that can take several hours.
Nancy and Gary Nasalroad’s hillside home (756 Montclair Drive) offers “to the ocean” views, and hundreds of Mediterranean and native California plants and trees.
Fine living indoors and out marks Brenda and Ray Padgett’s spacious home (600 Monte Vista Drive) with special areas for work and play, including a nostalgic Pez collection in the grandkids’ room!
A noted watercolorist and art instructor, Dorothy Orr’s newly created second story studio at her home (1334 Fern Oaks Drive) brings the outdoors inside and inspires her award-winning art works.
Jennifer Dumas/Lotar Ziesing’s historic ranch (18450 South Mountain Road) now holds the couple’s unique art collection, antiques - finds from Paris to stateside garage sales - and a separate gallery.
The Tour includes a special Art Walk on Holly Road, opportunity drawings, plant sale and refreshments to benefit the always-free services provided by the non-profit SCV Hospice.
Advance tickets at $20 each ($25 “at the door” Tour Day) are available at the Chamber of Commerce (200 N. 10th St.); Santa Paula Times (944 E. Main St.); John Nichols Gallery (916 E. Main St.); and the Glen Tavern Inn (134 N. Mill St.).
For $20 advance tickets via mail, make checks payable to SCV Hospice/Home Support Group, PO Box 365, Santa Paula, CA 93061. Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. For more information and for ticket sale locations outside Santa Paula, call SCV Hospice/Home Support Group, 525-1333.
