Stephen de staebler landscape ideas

John Toki encouraged me tointerview his old friend and mentor, sculptor Stephen De Staebler.

The following conversation is distilled from three meetings with the artist at his home and studio. 
      Stepping through the high redwood gate at his home, I found myself in another world. Several of De Staebler's ceramic figures stood around his pool, along a walkway to his studio and scattered in the landscaping as if waiting to be placed in more considered alignments.

It seemed I'd stumbled upon an archeological site full of relics, ancient fragments and timeless figures halfway gone or partly restored, poised between here and now-and a distant then. Had they been rescued from the slow process of disintegration or were they poised for some new resurrection? 
     De Staebler greeted me and something about his ease affected me immediately.