Greetings Proud Pipers,
My name is Rachel AKA many things
I am most commonly known as The Sand Goddess, as I paint with sand. I am also known as The Wagon Lady of Savannah Georgia, for completing an event accomplished by no other woman in the nation. Here, I am ... The Pipe Goddess because I am naughty by nature, irreverent and profound. I am passionate about being an Artist and Activist or what I call an Artivist. I'm a published author and speaker who works with survivors of neglect and maltreatment, especially survivors of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault. As I mentioned, I paint with sand and am working on a collection of "exrotica" sand pipes. I use the proceeds of my work to host free workshops and retreats on and off line to encourage survivors to break the cycle by getting on the road through restoration and lifestyle transformation. I use every aspect of who I am as a woman to manifest this purpose.
When you think of me and how I began a love for the pipe, think of the pelican from the frootloops commercial "follow me nose!"
When I was very young, I recalled the aroma of a pipe wafting past me. I'd follow my nose and it always led me to some man puffing away in a chair, or staring out into the horizon or reading or working on a car or strolling down the side walk just to wind up standing at a corner and taking in life. Distinctly I recall a woman on a front porch drinking a glass of what looked like OJ and rocking back and forth in her rocker. She wore a big house coat and rocked from behind the screening of creeping vines which draped over her front porch. There she sat, peering through the vines, puffing away and observing the traffic of people passing by. As I grew older and independent, I'd find myself waiting at a bus stop distracted by the sweet smell of cigar or pipe. I could not resist, I needed to follow and see who and what was being smoked. I wanted to see their enjoyment and what was mesmerizing them.
The first time I smoked anything, it was a cigar that I begged someone to buy for me when I was 17. I'll never forget the over sized fatigues I was wearing which were given to me by my uncle. The base of the pants were huge! They tied round my waist, a khaki olive one size fits all that bloomed to the ground! I snuck round behind the elementary school where I thought I'd not get caught and man alive... it was on and crackin! Some spiteful girls busted me and ran to tell my father. I was the fastest runner in my school and raced past them. I made it home first, darted up the stairs taking on three steps at a time!... lol... I was shaking with nerves! I brushed my teeth all the while hearing those hideous females ratting me out. Just as I finished my dad pounded on the bathroom door insisting I open it. "Yes dad?", I stood confidently... "have you been smoking?", he sternly asked with a look of intense firmness... "What??? Smoking??? NO!", as I laughed it off. My dad demanded, "Let me smell your breath!". So, he did and I was clean as a whistle!
lol I know my dad knew but he couldn't be positive past the paste!
Needless to say, I was hooked. I was a closet smoker for 15 years. As time passed, I simply didn't care what people thought of me anymore. I heard people proclaiming freedom of choice, while others were ranting about extremist statistics which they generally applied as a tainted brand for all smokers and I heard the conscious noise many made about how my smoking was imposing on their health as if the mountain of crap they contributed to society wasn't mutually impacting my health and well being. Freedom and yet I was having to hide my great affection? Yeah? No... I was over it. I had survived a great many things in my life. Up till that point I beat death nine times, I was pretty sure there were greater risks than cigars.
Smoking has always been very much a part of my creative process. Then in summer of 2008, I went into YE OLE Tobacco Shop in Savannah Georgia to buy a long neck cigar when I graced my eyes upon a beautiful pipe. It had a dainty little bowl with a ten inch long gold neck. I had to have it! I purchased some fresh Count Pulaski and some Chatham Gold. I stuffed it, pressed it gently between my lips, cocking it to the right ever so slightly and set it ablaze. If I didn't know better, I'da sworn the spirit of some ancient self was pressing through the surface of my being. I lit up right there in the store! The rest is history.
I was on a whole new level of euphoria!
I had found my ultimate fetish. I have collected sensual pipes ever since, most can not be posted to this site due to their graphic nature. I seek out custom pieces.
I light up in the tub and before a new work... depending upon the intensity of a piece I will pipe while I paint. As I tell people all the time, there is what I like to call a ”mind-mood” that comes along with the pipe… it sets the pace and flow for what you are about to engage in. For some it’s reading… some painting and for others it's watching the sun set etc. However, in most cases it accompanies one's need to plug into a deeper layer of life. The pipe is like a vehicle enabling you to transcend the ordinary realms of engagement. Surely on all levels it would seem the piper is creatively accessing a higher quality of life
It is personal, it is social, it is political and it is even more so spiritual.
Well... I have rambled on enough. I hope you get a greater sense of who I am, what I'm about. I am an anomaly that expresses raw passion diversely and free of the shackles of shame, fear and social stigma. I am who I am to each one... uniquely.
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