Lia was asked to get involved with the stage team of "Weekend With Picasso” at New Village Arts Theater in Carlsbad, Ca. It was mid July 2023.

On the first day on the job, she was simply asked to spackle the paste onto the uneven wall seams for the stage. It was the second morning while spackling, while standing on the very tall ladder, that the Art Director Douglas Cummings yelled to her, “Lia you’re done! Don’t concern yourself with the set or any more painting.” 

She was a bit startled, then came down from the ladder,  when he continued, “Please meet Herbert. He would like you to create, the Picasso Sculptures.”
Herbert Seguenza was the writer, producer, as well as the actor who was to portray Picasso in this one man play.

More than forty years ago in art school Lia spent many hours researching Picasso. He was an artistic passion paradox. Picasso is the infamous Spanish painter, assemblage  sculptor who revolutionized the art world in the early  to mid 1900s.  But his way with his women and family was awkward. He struggled with social behavior problems. Lia believes he used love as a path to anger to then use the fiery passion to produce his huge body of work.
Back on the stage Lia had only a brief moment with Herbert. He was so busy leading the stage development  while teaching acting class.

He really looked like the real Pablo Picasso. With just a few moments to spare, she had his ear and  tried to feel confident to get some answers to what he was looking for. He shared some photos by text with his preference of style. At least Lia did not have to choose from Picasso’s entire collection.

Lia  went home that night with spirits high. Within a couple of hours had  crafted three miniature sculptures out of cardboard and paper. These actually came together effortlessly. She has the skills to visualize and create 3 dimensional mock ups. Since university, she has been producing smaller jewelry pieces, home and garden medium sized work,  as well as very large outdoor public art sculptures.

The next morning she had less then three minutes with Herbert.  He chose his two favorite miniatures on the right and left in this photo.
Quickly she asks him, “How large do you want these?”  
He says buoyantly, “ As large as you can make them!”  

She thought really? Quickly and insistently and audacity, she says to the art director, 
“I need an assistant!” Herbert had no idea that my most recent four sculptures were 10 to 15 feet tall, made out of 1/4” steel. 
By the 4th morning behind the stage Jeff Snell, my experienced assistant and Lia were into this task. Jeff is the connection to this whole project. He is very talented with wood working skills. In his past he was building sky scrapers in New York City.

Lia was fortunate to have Jeff as an assistant. He knew where the good scraps of wood were. We used beautiful yet used 1/8” Luan plywood and anchored with sturdy supports. Lia knew they would needed both strength and weight at the bottom of these sculptures.

In less than two weeks,  Jeff and Lia recreated the ”Short Guy with a Big Head” at 5 feet tall, and the “Tall Guy with a Small Head” at 6.5 feet tall. These reproductions were adapted from the Bronze Assemblage series  "Les Baigneurs” or “The Bathers” 1956, appropriate since in this stage performance, the first scene had Picasso taking a bath center stage when he received a call from his art dealer for a big art commission.

All the stage hands were invited to the preview. Lia loved the performance, the stage cluttered with objects of found treasures, assemblages, paintings and of course the two sculptures among  the menagerie.

In the lobby, after the preview performance Herbert calls to Lia loudly, “My Sculptor,” and greets her with a big hug.

In the lobby again after the sold out opening night, Herbert and Lia greeted one another with a big hug. He leaned in with a playful chuckle, “Did you see that I added your sculpture into my painting?” Of course I did. I noticed the newly added details as I sat down to watch the play.