Paul Hawkins
1941-2013
An artist, master carver, creator, original thinker, Paul graced the lives of everyone who knew him with endless humor and deep insight into life on Earth. Ever engaged with his creative process and deeply committed to being a self-directed individual he, and his partner in all ways Susan Zalkind, have been pioneers of American Stone Carving. In more than 40 years he has created countless works of beauty collected by thousand of people.
His life was a celebration of Alabaster, of stone, of wood, of gems, of fossils and of the desert beauty from which they emerge. Of the many forms he explored, some of the most powerful and personal were his desert scenes, house gods, large bowls, and spirit weapons. At the time of his passing he was 29 pieces in to his ‘Nine Billion Faces of God’ series.
Paul was born in the Green Granite mountains of Vermont. A prolific reader and day dreamer, at the age of six he knew who he was and what he wanted to do with his life.
He ran kicking and screaming from New England, joining the army at 17. He was trained as a photographer in Korea and made his way to Southern California in the 60’s. He worked as a photographer and raised two daughters, Margot and Milaka. He was active in the anti-war movement and with the California Peace and Freedom Party. During Vietnam he ran the southernmost safe house for draftees along the underground railroad, paddling young men across the Tijuana Slew into Mexico in his canoe during the night. “Press on.”
At the age of 33 he quit his last job, vowing to do his own work and live his life as autonomously as possible. He had taken sculpture classes on the GI Bill and knew where to find Alabaster. His father had made bowls at a wood mill in Vermont, and that seemed like a good place to start. He spent the next years living in his truck with his daughters, traveling from hot spring to hot spring, carving stone bowls and pot pipes.
When he met Susan selling at the Leucadia Flea Market, it all changed. They started carving together and a game of aesthetic leapfrog was started. For 37 years they lived their lives together as professional artists, 35 years in the Verde Valley of Arizona. They had two children, Amber Serene and Zaliah Kahlil, multiple dogs and cats and spent their lives traveling to beautiful places and selling their work across the country.
I only met him once, at an art show in Carefree. I do not usually get “attached” to artists, but we have a small alabaster piece on our mantle ( about two years old now) and I do not ever tire of holding it. It is energizing and calming somehow
Curiously what I remember is Paul’s hands when he handed us the piece. I can still see them.
Maybe you have seen the movie “The Never Ending Story”. There is a character called the rock giant. Those are his hands, and his spirit. Paul’s hands have caressed the earth for so long they became part of the earth even before his passing.
He held the earth in his hands with love and respect – now it is the earth’s turn to hold him.
Hands
Though your form
By Deborah Knox
Is gone, your essence lives on.
Your Spirit is at One with All.
Your memory lives on in the hearts of those who love you.
Your body cells live on in Zali, Amber, and Carver.
Your work lives on in all its beauty, craftstmanship and elegance.
Your humor lives on in all of us,
As does your truth, your sense of justice and your courage.
In my wildest imaginings I can’t believe your form is gone.
May your Spirit soar like the eagle and touch all who loved you
And were loved by you.
I feel blessed to have been one of those.
In gratitude, in grief, in joy.
