Quirky Berkeley

The Quirky Material Culture of Berkeley

Quirky Berkeley
  • Walkers
  • Help us!
  • Links
  • Blogs/Albums
  • Contact us
  • Latest Posts
  • Quirky Berkeley in the Media
March 29, 2015 by tomdalzell

Marcia Donahue’s Sculpture, Flora, and Magic Interior

 

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"Marcia Donahue has lived at 3017 Wheeler (just below Ashby, just above Shattuck) for 37 years.  She has gardened there for 37 years, exquisitely and creatively, favoring lush and jungle-like plantings that change with the changing sunlight of the day.  She has created art there for 37 years.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

In the early years she carved stone.  Ten years ago, more or less, things changed in her life.  One was a change in her art.  She now works in ceramics, not stone.

She lives in the house with her daughter and son-in-law Sara and Ehren Tool, and their son.  She enjoys the rejuvenate friction of multigenerational living, although she half mocked me for suggesting that term which she rightly supposed was a term that I had borrowed, not coined.

From the street, you see the luxuriant planting style that carries through to the back garden, which is open to the public Sunday afternoons.   You also see Big Beauty, a ceramic sculpture made by Sara and trucked up from Los Angeles piece by piece.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Quirky Berkeley in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, February 10th, 2016.

 

 

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015""Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"On the steps up to the porch you see eyes, and on the porch a large John Abdul Jaami sculpture.

Quirky Berkeley

 

You reach the back garden by a path on the south side of the house.  My photographs don’t really capture the entirety of the beauty and whimsy of the garden.  Here are several that try:

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Throughout the garden are pieces of Donahue’s ceramic art.  Many are over-sized malas, a set of beads – usually 108 – used by Hindus and Buddhists for keeping count while reciting, chanting, or mentally uttering a mantra or the name or names of a deity.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Others are nats, spirits worshipped in Burma as part of the Buddhist faith tradition.  There are many lower nats and 37 Great Nats who inhabit the six heavens.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

She calls these three nats Sisters Age, an allusion to M.F.K. Fisher’s Sister Age.

Non-mala and non-nat ceramics abound in the garden, blending seamlessly into the flora.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"The back porch is a soaring Bulwinkle creation – steel bamboo railing, a heart-shaped outward-jutting shelf, a large steel screen, and maniacal faces screaming into the sky.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

 

There is a smaller Bulwinkle screen as part of an overhang roof on the north side of the house.

Quirky Berkeley 02-10-2016

 

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

If the spectacular plantings were not sufficient, and the happy exotic chickens were not enough, and the Donahue mala and nats and ceramics were not enough, there are objects, found and made, hidden and not hidden.

Antique Chinese porcelain shards pot by Cevan Forristt

Shard mosaic vessel by Cevan Forristt

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

A path of shards

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Land mines!

Land mines!

Boogra art.

Boogra art.

Beckoning cat with Ehreb Tool mug.

Beckoning cat with Ehren Tool mug.

A Mississippi planter - a splayed tire filled with cutlery.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

A Mississippi planter – a splayed tire filled with cutlery.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Mill stones that came all the way from China.

Mill stones that came all the way from China.

There are bowling balls throughout the garden, making it the motherlode of bowling balls as lawn art in Berkeley.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Children who visit the garden ike to count the bowling balls.  I bet that there have not been any two counts that were the same.  There are lots of them.  Maybe we should just go with the Romans and say “forty,” meaning “lots.”

Now – Marcia’s studio.  It is inside and thus not within the parameters of Quirky Berkeley. As I have said before, because there is a parallel Berkeleyside post that isn’t constricted by outside-only rules, I include here photos from inside the house and the studio.

Marcia’s ceramics studio is ground level, front of the house.  On one wall is a large Bulwinkle screen:

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

There is a doll supervising all:

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

There is a Big Blue extruder which squishes clay into the basic forms from which Donahue carves her art.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

And there are works in progress, in this case all hats.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Carving scraps that after being fired will become designer gravel

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

And then the house proper.  Wow.  Simply – wow!   Brilliant colors and Africa fabrics and Japanese obis (decorative kimono sashes) and massive pieces of asian furniture and dappled sunlight and found objects and iconography from Asian and African faith traditions.  It is ever-changing and very difficult, if even possible, to take in.

The kitchen ceiling was painted by Mark Bulwinkle.  Marcia remembers that it only took him a few hours.  He remembers that there was a bottle of gin involved.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

The overhead light fixtures are by Jana Olson, either alone or in collaboration with Marcia.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Photographs do justice to individual elements, but not the overall effect.  The individual elements –

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

The drawers are filled with Lego pieces. Perfect!

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

One of several John Abdul Jaami pieces in the house.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

An altar to Sri Jagannath, Lord of the Universe.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Beckoning cat, a.k.a. maneki-neko, a.ka. 招き猫

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Hair and nozzle pieces by Susan Danis

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

In early 2916, Donahue went all silk on this wall:

Quirky Berkeley 02-10-2016 Quirky Berkeley 02-10-2016

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Sculpture by Sara Tool, daughter of Marcia.

Sculpture by Sara Tool, daughter of Marcia.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Ceramic mugs by Ehren Tool, son-in-law.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Barbie Flash Mob!

The photo above is of what daughter Sara calls “Barbie Flash Mob.”  How perfect is that?

The quirky and whimsical and creative and artistic and glorious abound at 3017 Wheeler.  Almost four decades of gardening, a decade of making ceramics, and a lifetime of collecting art – all here, one stop.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

When I showed my friend these photos, he was truly taken aback. He went back over them a few times, slowly.

“Know what this reminds me of?”   I didn’t.  He got a photo:

Nigel Tufnel 1984 Marhsall amps.S[oma;jpg

“Spinal Tap.  Nigel Tufnel’s amp.  It went up to 11.  Sister Donahue here has got a garden and house that go up to 11.  Right over the cliff!”

Good point.  Anything else about the photos?

IMG_3677

 

Posted in Uncategorized. RSS 2.0 feed.
« South Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens
Webster and College – Julie Partos and her Quirky Installations »

7 Responses to Marcia Donahue’s Sculpture, Flora, and Magic Interior

  1. Angela says:
    September 22, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    Giardino delle meraviglie, come una meraviglia è la signora che lo ha prodotto. Complimenti. I lavori sono splendidi!

    Reply
  2. Pingback: Winter warbler | Mostly Nature Stuff

  3. Alisa Moore says:
    March 4, 2018 at 12:25 am

    Marcia your work is exquisite as is your home and Art Studio. I could spend hours looking at your work and look forward to the day I can come and see it. How can one arrange that? The colors in your beautiful bohemian bedroom match my walls and trim. I’m completely smitten with your style and looking forward to doing something similarly in my new place. Thank you for the inspiration.

    Reply
  4. Kristina says:
    December 21, 2018 at 11:38 pm

    Are u still doing the work? I’m moving my art to NM
    Any thoughts about best way to do it?

    Love the work and the photos

    Reply
    • tomdalzell says:
      December 22, 2018 at 1:04 am

      this is Quirky Berkeley, not Marcia.

      Her email is

      thanks2flora@gmail.com

      Tom Dalzell

      Reply
  5. Kristin Davis says:
    August 15, 2019 at 4:51 am

    How inspiring you, Sara and Ehren are!
    I can feel the green energy pulsing from the images.
    Keep making ceramic works of art…please

    Reply
  6. polly says:
    September 20, 2019 at 12:43 pm

    I love your literateness. Wonderful to read. Even more I love the number of (excellent) photos. Often in such pieces there are not enough photos. Words don’t do justice to Marcia’s world.
    Thank you from Toronto.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Here you will find photos of the oddball, whimsical, eccentric, and the near-rhyme quirky material culture of Berkeley.
Read More

Subscribe

Categories

  • Animals
  • Architecture
  • Cars, Trains and Planes
  • Food
  • Gone
  • Graffiti
  • Ma
  • Mailboxes
  • Major Quirky
  • Miscellaneous
  • Murals
  • Painted
  • Peace
  • Signs
  • Walks

All content © 2025 by Quirky Berkeley. Base WordPress Theme by Graph Paper Press