SAN DIEGO — We’ve all been told to stop and smell the roses, but have you ever stopped to get to know the plants and flowers around you?
San Diego artist Molly Paulick is using the stroke of her paintbrush to shed color on San Diego native plants and the important role they play in our ecosystem, but before she knew native plants by their name, Molly suffered in unimaginable loss. Her sister Julia was killed by a drunk driver on Interstate-405 in Costa Mesa.
It is a loss expressed in her painting “Burst”
“The photograph of this painting was of the 405 freeway. Joy over something dark. This painting is called 'Burst,' and it is really that – joy bursting through death, through darkness, not in spite or because of it,” she said.
Molly even wrote a poem that accompanies “Burst.” It reads:
“Foundations. The land where darkness fell. The pavement. It is suffocating every fiber of me, but your light breaks through. Your joy redeems the streets that claimed her life.”
It was the death of Julia that led Molly to fully embrace art.
“It was a way for me to process my own grief,” she said.
Despite the dark sky over her life, Molly decided to live out her sister’s mantra: Keep on dancing. It is a mantra that Molly and the rest of her family had tattooed on themselves.
“She had this tattooed on her foot. It was based off lyrics of a Robyn song called, ‘I Keep Dancing on my Own.’ It was kind of her mantra because she really did just march to the beat of her own drum,” she said.
Molly is giving it her all, and not just with dancing but through the choreography of her faith and art work, Molly developed a deeper understanding of the plants and flowers in San Diego. It an understanding she is now sharing with her community.
“I have always been fascinated with things that are overlooked and unseen,” she said.
Her neighborhood and walks through Balboa Park and the canyons in the area, Molly began to appreciate a world most of us forget to appreciate or simply overlook.
“When I first moved here, I found myself walking along this canyon. That is how I started getting more curious about these plants. What are these neighbors of mine? And how can I love them and know them?”
Molly isn’t just making plants the subject of her artwork, she is also learning from them.
“With these plants we get to actually see the local ecology play out in the world where everyone is freaking out – fearful of the future and what is to come in terms of climate and the earth and what our future holds in 20 years’ time,” she said.
In the canyon near her Hillcrest home, Molly finds her inspiration.
“It is a real view of San Diego. That is why I love these canyons,” she said.
For those who do not believe San Diego has fall, Molly points out a Western Sycamore tree.
“We see these all-over Southern California. They have the most beautiful leaves. They are falling leaves. So, we have fall, ladies and gentlemen,” said Molly,
Adding to the holiday spirit, Molly points to the Toyon Tree.
“Right now, they are bright red berries and they are beautiful, and they come out right about the fall till Christmas, and they are just a stunning plant if you really look at them. They have white flowers in the summers up until the fall and then the red berries. They look like Christmas which is awesome and perfect,” she said.
In her 2019 project, “Let Them Illuminate the Land,” Molly captured her love for San Diego.
“This was the fire plant that was outside the Jacaranda Tree. The photograph is a picture of Mission Bay and so if you zoomed in closely, I collaged some people swimming. It was kind of my love story to San Diego and why I loved it so much,” she said.
She calls the art piece, “Relish.”
Her poem to “Relish” reads:
“Finally, home. A healing place. A wondrous space. Full field vision. A baptism. A dance. A light to carry.”
Molly said she is not sure if her work is unique, but she uses the gift that she has been given in the time she has been given.
“It melds the technology that we are gifted with by taking our own photographs and then printing them and then painting your own wild imagination on top of it. This is my version of that,” she said.
Just as native plants play a crucial role in our ecosystem, Molly said art plays an important role in our lives.
“Art is not just a peripheral, it is an extremely important part of our society and we need to encourage other artists. Just ask an artist why they do what they do and that will go miles and it will feel like their work is important. It is sometimes easy to forget that it is important,” said Molly.
So how does Molly know when an art piece is done?
“When it sings to me! I forget what artist said that, but I think that is so true,” she exclaimed.
There may be times when the lights come on and the music dies, and while Molly cannot see her sister physically, Julia can still be seen in Molly’s work.
“Each of the series that I did last year was a place and time of my healing. So, I keep dancing for her,” said Molly.
Molly said she hopes to reveal her latest art project in early 2020. You can visit her website to learn more about her work, or if you are interested in buying some prints.