Shelter-in-place restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic have pushed many people to revisit old hobbies or start new ones.
Although a friend’s suggestion inspired Glenn Ohler to pursue a new pastime, the outbreak and his wife’s survival of a rare cancer have kept him at it.
Ohler, a Santa Barbara County firefighter who lives in Atascadero, is an emerging sand artist.
Sand etchings at the shoreline are fleeting, lasting only until the tides come in and wash them away. But while they last, they can serve as inspiration for those who see them.
There’s real gratification in doing a temporary art piece, Ohler said, speaking of the “satisfaction in creating that kind of art. The joy is in the creating, being immersed in creating something. It’s not about the end result or what you do with what you created.”
He rephrased a famous Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Life is about the journey, not about the destination.”
Firefighter creates sand etchings on beaches
It was Ohler’s first shoreline artwork that prompted his pal, fellow firefighter Matt Brody of Cambria, to suggest in January that Ohler branch out into sand etching.
Ohler and his wife used tree trunks, big rocks, seaweed and other elements to construct a 30-foot-diameter peace symbol on a San Simeon beach in January. It could still be seen months later on a stretch of sand across Highway 1 from the Washburn Day Use area of Hearst San Simeon State Park, just north of Cambria.
So far, Ohler said via phone, “it’s withstood whatever the beach tossed at it.”
When Brody saw the peace sign art in January, “he mentioned something about a sand artist who does incredible work,” Ohler recalled, referring to earthscape artist Jim Denevan, whose massive, elemental etchings in sand and snow have won him worldwide acclaim.
Ohler sought out Denevan’s work on Instagram, then found similar inspiration in etchings by Andreas Amador, Tony Plant and Edmond Stanbury.
He was hooked.
At 58, Ohler dabbled in other hobbies in the past, including clay sculpting, ice sculpting and chalk art. But his sand art speaks to him in a way the others did not, he said.
His sand etching “started out as a way to deal with what my wife is going through, (a) cathartic means of coping with my wife’s diagnosis,” he said, in addition to being “a moving meditation on imperfection and impermanence.”
Hobby helps SLO County man cope with stress
Ohler’s wife, Kass Flaig, was diagnosed in 2018 with mantle cell lymphoma, a rare, aggressive form of cancer. She was treated by a specialist in Houston who also is treating art potter Michael Miller of Cambria, who has the same disease.
Flaig, who’s now in remission, continues to raise money for patients such as Miller through sales of her sculptures featuring heart-shaped rocks, which can be viewed at www.hearts-of-the-earth.com. So far, she’s raised about $30,000 from sales generated by generous people in Cambria and beyond.
Meanwhile, Ohler’s hobby has continued to provide him with “some down time, not being consumed about what the future might hold” for the couple, he said.
He said his more recent sand etchings were inspired not only by his wife’s illness, but also “by the Black Lives Matter movement, racism, COVID-19, the financial crisis … all the things going on now.” He said he’s also focusing on “what’s in the future of the world and the people who occupy it.”
Ohler’s works have evolved from oceanic designs drawn from an “adult coloring book someone gave my wife while she was undergoing her treatments” to “tribal, tattoo-type etchings,” he said.
One of his most recent works was a long etching of the word “hope” in looping, lower-case script.
Depending on how detailed a drawing is, “it can take anywhere from two to five hours to complete,” Ohler said, so tide timing is critical. “I’m learning more about the tides. Sometimes the time between low tide and high tide is quite short. Other times, it’s extended. I’ve completed a couple of these drawings just as the tide is starting to reclaim the beach … and my drawing.”
He does some etchings in tucked away coves and others right at the tideline.
“The key to these locations, I believe, is that the beach is shallow enough to retain some of the seawater, allowing me to create a contrast with the poles and rakes I use to create the designs,” Ohler said.
He said he’s learned that it’s essential to have alternative plans.
“I never know what I’ll find” in the location for his latest artwork, Ohler said. “Will there be thousands of pounds of seaweed covering the beach? Will multiple people be enjoying the area I intended to work? Could a recent storm have created a ‘steep’ beach, which in turn will be both difficult to draw on and dry out quicker? Still so much to learn!”
Hobbies can be a big help in times of stress, according to Cambria psychologist Steve Brody.
“It’s an excellent idea for folks to explore new ones (and explore existing ones) during these shelter-in-place times,” Brody said, add that hobbies can “help distract the mind and contribute to feelings of accomplishment … especially helpful countering the malaise of powerlessness so many of us are experiencing.”
Brody added that exercise, social support and prayer or meditation are also helpful to combat stress.
How artist came to Central Coast
Diverse life-and-career patterns helped to lead Ohler to his latest endeavor.
He’s lived in communities as large as Orlando and San Francisco, and as tiny as a central Michigan village with a population of 400.
Ohler studied computer science in college, but said he was “drawn to cooking, as I enjoyed the fast-paced, creative environment.”
By 1984, he was pursuing a career in professional kitchens, gaining a degree from the well-respected culinary-arts program at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. He became the executive sous chef at the Hyatt Regency in Indian Wells.
After that, he wore an executive chef’s toque for a private club in San Francisco’s financial district, then worked at Woodside Bakery and Café. He eventually returned to corporate kitchens as executive chef for 3COM in Santa Clara, where there were “approximately 10,000 employees on site” to feed, he said.
Ohler met Flaig when both were on a Bay Area triathlon team. They moved to Atascadero in 2000 to be closer to her parents, who have both passed away since then.
Ohler then started a catering company and was a baker for Pure & Simple, an artisan bakery in Templeton.
Flaig, a home health nurse for 28 years, cared for many Central Coast patients — including Earl Moon of Cambria, who was a supervisor at Hearst Castle in San Simeon for many years.
Ohler and Flaig also started a triathlon team, which Flaig coached. A few team members encouraged Ohler to become a firefighter.
So, at age 43, he enrolled in Alan Hancock College’s fire academy in Santa Maria and aced it.
Ohler has been with Santa Barbara County Fire for 14 years. “And I love what I do,” he said of his work, his San Luis Obispo County lifestyle and his new artistic outlet at the shore.
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