Somewhere in the desert you may come across a half buried statue. A stone torso, almost like a Greek goddess. I wonder how she got there? Or more likely you may see some little stone disks sunk into the pavement in Hillcrest each with a fossil creature embedded in it. A leaf or prehistoric this. They are both the work of our guest, St. Ignace Coco -- sculptor, Doron Rosenthal, who is created a legacy of stone coping but has also written a new book about his life and work. It's called, "36 Years In Stone and San Diego" . He will talk about it at the scene Niego downtown library the Sunday and he's here in our studios today. Thank you for being with us. Today. I use the word legacy advisedly because when you started writing that book many years ago, you had just been diagnosed with cancer and given a few months to live. Telis, what was it when you started writing the book that you wanted to communicate. I was cleaning out my life. I was getting rid of everything since I wasn't going to be here. When I put all my papers about art on my dining room table I realized it looks like a book. So, I started creating that so I could get rid of everything. You were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which is usually not something you recover from. Were doctors surprised that you're still alive now? They gave me a three-month prognosis when they found it in 2007. They did massive surgery, it's called the Whipple, where the open you up and take everything out and they put back pieces. And then they radiate you for six weeks and hope you make it. Lo and behold, I'm still here. So I'm going to keep creating. Did you gain something from being called that possible death sentence? I'm happier. I'm happy to be here. Telis a bit about this book that you've produced. It's an artist's roadmap. It is. It's a map in a very classical sense. Like when you sailed the seven seas and you went across the ocean, you would come back and he would write the story of where you could get this and that and whatever. And you brought it back to the king into showed him and it was a way of documenting what's out there. So what I did with the same thing. I documented going to the desert in 1979 and picking up my first stones. And then the process of creating something, creating a body of work, showing that body of work, participating in the artist community of San Diego, specifically. And finally teaching and then putting what was left back out in the desert so I could move on. And that's the torso I referenced in the introduction. Why did you decide that was so important, to put one of your statues back? When I was in the hospital I was really petrified that all my rocks in my studio would be left for someone else to rifle through. And I wanted to put it back to where I got it from. It seemed very Buddhist, very complete in doing my work. And she is right out there were no one can really see her, isn't she picks no. She is in a riverbed way out there. you will not find her easy. This is, as you say, a roadmap for other artists in San Diego. I thought it was interesting that you put your rejection letters from some of the places you submitted your work to as an example of what you had to go through. That's what drives you. When somebody says, no, I just say, I will show you how. And that's basically why I put that in there. I wanted people not to be put off when they tried to do something. Just tried again. This is encouraging other artists in what other media there in. Anything. Even a writer, just don't take no for an answer. You can always move forward. Be the water not the rock. Speaking of rock, what is it about stone that you like to work with? I don't know. I'm fascinated with the. I was brought out to the desert by my teacher from Santa Barbara city College and allowed into the mind. It became a place I could go back to and I kept creating from there. Which mine is this? The U.S. Gypsum mind. Probably the drywall that's all around you right now was from the U.S. Gypsum mind and plaster city. They have a 600 your supply and they've been supplying our city with wallboard What is it about that medium that is perfect for what you want to create? I was able to use old tools, chisels, not modern tools, and out, find the rock, create the whole thing without using gasoline or electricity or anything but my imagination. And it was really -- it was a lot of joy. A lot of joy. Two there is a wonderful picture on your website of all the tools of your trade. They are almost a work of art in themselves. They are. What is important about how you bring the shape out of the rock with his tools? You know, when you work with the power tool, and this is how a lot of people work today, with power tools, you run right through something. When you work with a hand tool, you have more control. You can actually get a tremendous amount done if you know how to hit it correctly. This is not something new. And so I really appreciated learning how to use the tools correctly and get what I wanted from them. You have traveled in Israel as a child and throughout your life. How was that influenced you? You know, like this piece I put in the desert, I saw fragments of giant buildings or sculptures and things. And I kind of reproduced those same fragments, here, and then I think I might have hit about 10 or 12 of them out in the desert. They are not on public lands. They are on the edge of the U.S. Gypsum mind where I got them. And we should say that you also do have some of your art visible throughout San Diego. Oh yes. In Walnut Creek and Dublin. I've worked on public projects around the state. Why is San Diego in the title of your book? Because, you know, an artist reflects the place he works from. And San Diego, the light, the air, they all drive me forward. In so I wanted -- IMS San Diego artist. In a think it's important that people understand that it's not just Tijuana, it's not just Los Angeles, San Diego also has art. And a lot of it. The book is called, "36 Years In Stone and San Diego" . And it's by Doron Rosenthal. You will be speaking about it at the San Diego downtown library this Sunday at 4:00. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.
Faced with a cancer diagnosis and three months to live, San Diego artist Doron Rosenthal decided to write a book.
Nearly 10 years later, Rosenthal said he's healthy and his newly published book, "36 Years In Stone and San Diego," can be a road map for artists in San Diego.
Rosenthal's own road map to becoming an artist includes his experience with rejection. He published copies of one rejection letter from the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego in the book and said rejection only propelled him.
"Public art, they said no, you can't do that, you're never going to do that," he said. "I put together a proposal - that's in the book word-for-word - I gave it to the City of San Diego, they accepted it, and my public art has been in the street for the past 18 years. That's the fossils in Hillcrest."
Rosenthal's "Fossils Exposed" are carved from discarded pieces of headstone he says he found in a dumpster. The more than 100 round stone carvings, which are embedded in the pavement along University Avenue between Fourth Avenue and Park Boulevard in Hillcrest, include images of bees and bones, fish and bugs, mollusks and plants.
Rosenthal will discuss working as an artist in San Diego Thursday on Midday Edition.
