by Terri Tunnicliff
I am always interested in the outside “non-musical” lives of my San Diego Symphony colleagues. Our own amazing English Horn player, Andrea Overturf, is an example of a musician who is living a life filled with creativity outside of her musical life in the Orchestra. She is, among other things, an accomplished equestrienne, a consummate hostess, a master green thumb gardener, and an accomplished creator of found object art.
Andrea was born and raised near Seattle on 5 acres in the Pacific Northwest woods. Her mother loved horses and Andrea started riding at the age of 4 and eventually came within a half point of winning the 1998 World Championship in the Western Riding Event. She grew up in a musical and artistic family with many cousins who were musicians. Her father was a world traveler who collected folk art but her biggest influence was her mother, Cindy, who is a graphic designer. Andrea describes her childhood as “ growing up in Pee Wee’s Playhouse.” She loved watching pre-1970 monster movies such as Alfred Hitchcock, the Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury Presents, Tales from the Dark Side, and 1950s movies featuring Vincent Price. Art and music were always a part of her daily life. When her mom was finishing a work project, she would set Andrea up under her drafting table, provide her with art supplies, and Andrea would happily learn to create something. She says she was kind of a “Art latch key kid.” As an only child, she always respected the art and delicate objects in her family home. One item she covets is an antique “Drac in the Box” that her mother collected when Andrea was a child.
About 6 years ago Andrea started to work with found materials to create assembled pieces that were at times dark, or whimsical or that blurred the line between something that was alive and something machine-like. Patric Stillman of the Studio Door Art Gallery invited Andrea to contribute pieces in his “50 Artists to Watch” exhibit a few years ago. She has continued to contribute works in group shows at the Studio Door. Her art has been described as Goth or similar to the atomic-age/antiquated look of steam punk. She agrees with all of those descriptions. Some of her pieces are humorous or whimsical but some people find her faces dark or scary. She has always gravitated to horns and teeth and angular faces but she does not view her pieces as dark or scary. Her art is her happy place and she is happiest when she sees a piece come to life in her hands even if, to another viewer, it is a monster. To her, fierce faces are cute. Andrea says “I prefer goblins to teddy bears and I was born that way.” She dreams of one day figuring out how to make her pieces move on their own. She is drawn to kinetic sculpture and the works of Rube Goldberg. She wants to one day learn how to weld and how to build her own motors to drive the movement she envisions.
Recently I spent an afternoon with her in her garden behind her neat, organized and yet “filled with art” house. She lives about 7 miles from downtown San Diego but her home feels like a private sanctuary, especially in her back yard. She has a wide curved yard and patio overlooking a small canyon. The big sky vista is wide open and allows a perfect view of Cowles Mountain and Mt. Helix. The landscape is dotted with the rusted animal sculptures of Ricardo Breceda whose giant dragons can be seen in and around the desert landscape of Borrego Springs. The sculptures, the giant pergola framed by stag horn, the huge vegetable garden, the peach, avocado, lemon and cherimoya trees all combine to create this private sanctuary. It has been and continues to be the perfect setting to ride out this crazy pandemic year. For Andrea, her home is her sanctuary.
