Pae White's cluttered hilltop studio in Pasadena feels like the calm after a storm. About the size of a two-car garage, it is filled with muted California sunshine and animated by the sound of White's dog barking at gardeners working on the beautifully landscaped property, next to Ernest E. Debs Park.
On a recent visit, White, who has an exotic, natural beauty with long curly hair and prominent almond-shaped eyes, sat at an enormous table scattered with the evidence from a period of intense productivity. Discarded sheets of printed plastic and test strips from a digital weaver in Belgium, which she finds "compelling" because of their randomness, are heaped on the chairs and floor. Nearby is a stack of plastic boxes filled with a portion of her vast collection of Vera scarves. In the corner, a new industrial laser nudges a vintage card table. Paolo Soleri wind chimes hang overhead and swatches of metallic paint are daubed on the windowpane behind her.
