SET IN STONE: Donna Billick '73, M.F.A. '76, has spent the last 20 years carving herself a niche in the realm of sculpture and public art, but right now that space is fully occupied by her latest creations, a set of nine-foot-tall clay goddesses. Not that Billick minds one bit. "This series of goddesses is a kind of self-portrait, but bigger than life, like 'she's a big girl now,' and that's the way I see myself. I'm experienced and I definitely have paid my dues, so I can make statements and concepts that match that."

All of Billick's work runs big and looms large in Davis. The self-described "Rock Artist" is best known for a set of eight-foot-tall ceramic tile pigs, posed in a frolicsome dance for the amusement of shoppers in the Marketplace center at Covell and Sycamore. Five miles away, a ceramic palm tree holds its own, at a cool 10 feet, amidst the natural forest of a West Davis park. According to Billick, public art demands generous size and invites collaboration, not only between artists, but with other members of the community. "In public art you're generally working with a project that is large enough in size and scale to engage more than one person."

Billick describes herself as having "sprung from the loins of the UC Davis faculty" (she studied ceramics with Robert Arneson) and the Northern California Figurative Movement. She chose to settle in Davis after noticing that the surrounding landscape brimmed with creative outpourings. "If you look around San Francisco and Northern California, there are some incredible artifacts! It says to me that the people in this area understand who you are and what you're up to. Get your creative beings to litter the landscape with awesome public art and everybody wins."

Billick has persuaded the goddesses to do an exhibition with works by Roy DeForest, UC Davis art professor emeritus, at the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis in November.

-- Clare Homan '96