If you haven't already, please tune in to "The Martha Stewart Podcast." These shows are when I sit down for one-on-one conversations with fascinating people from all walks of life to learn how their individual careers began, how they have evolved, and what tips they have for listeners. These talks are filled with information, inspiration, and lots of laughter. My podcasts are available on the iHeart media app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
One of my latest recordings is with my friend, artist Sheila Berger. Sheila is a New York City based sculptor and painter well known for her public art pieces on nature. Sheila's work has been shown in several notable locations across the country and around the world. Not long ago, Sheila and I sat down in a quiet corner of my home to talk about her career, her travels, her art installations, and what inspires her curiosity, her creativity, and her compassion.
Enjoy these photos and please listen to my podcast.
I’ve known Sheila Berger for many years. Here we are in my home shortly after recording the podcast. It was so nice to catch up with Sheila, talk about our modeling days, share travel stories, and hear about her beautiful works of art.
As Sheila tells it, her artistic journey with birds began at her childhood home in Missouri. “Outside a large picture window in the kitchen was a small porch. Above the porch were two planters. My mother and father would sit in the kitchen and look out.
I came to plant one spring in 2007. As I removed the first planter, I saw five blue robin eggs. I carefully put it back and told my mom that she would have baby birds soon. I then took down the other planter where there was an empty nest. I took the nest home. My mother, with great tenderness, watched the birds and would call me with daily updates on the eggs. In the meantime, I placed the humble, fragile, empty nest on an ornate marble pedestal in the center of my studio.”
This is Sheila’s first bird – small, but very special.
Sheila kept journals of her thoughts and ideas.
Every page is a beautiful work of its own. This tells another angle of the robin’s nest and eggs story. Sheila looked to find something special in the small and ordinary of nature.
Sheila went on to create larger birds out of stainless steel. Here she is hammering feathers for a 10-foot piece.
Here she is grinding and attaching pieces of steel to the body. Looking closely, one can see her drawings on the metal. Every piece is attached so carefully and precisely.
And here is Sheila welding the feathers.
This is ‘Avis Gloriae Et Lavdis’ at sunset, displayed in Riverside Park, New York City.
And here is Sheila working on the mask of her meadowlark sculpture she calls ‘Superhero.’
Sheila stands next to the finished meadowlark she created with a sand hill crane mask. The bird was placed at Yanney Heritage Park in Kearney, Nebraska, the location of one of the largest and oldest bird migrations in the world. Between March and April, more than a million sand hill cranes fly over the Platte River Valley from Canada to the Southern United States. It’s a sight to behold. (Photo by Rosanne Cash)
Bird ‘MMXXIII’ is at Governor’s Island in New York. This bird is made of stainless steel with a crown and mirrored belly, situated across the iconic Statue of Liberty ready to greet any and all visitors. (Photo by Ilir Rizaj)
Sheila captured this photo of ‘MMXXIII’ with her Barbet, Bertie.
Sheila loves how her birds attract people of all ages, genders, and lifestyles, to visit her birds and hopefully to appreciate the small and ordinary creatures of the world.
Sheila also began a project dedicated to hands. Sheila recounts, “I began casting my own hands in 2010, and when I held them; turning them around, I felt the totality and urgency of my life. Somehow seeing my hands outside of my body made me want to be in my body. I wanted to share this with my friends, their friends, with couples together and apart, and strangers, etc. Then the project came together – just women. I now have over 100 pairs of hands and am ready to place them in a collection.” (Photo by Gael Towey)
Here is Sheila excavating a pair of hands. Some of her hand models include Carol Burnett, Gloria Steinem, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Joni Mitchell, Lily Tomlin, and me. (Photo by Gael Towey)
Here are my hands – one in the other. Sheila calls this a goddess pose.
This is the hand of the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020.
Some of Sheila’s casts are displayed on her home mantel. (Photo by Erica Shires)
Here is a sculpture of what could soon be a giant public art installation called The Makers, showing how girls and young women are taught to use tools.
And here is a painting done by Sheila. This was inspired by a visit to my farm. Sheila says, “Martha invited my family to her home one Easter Sunday. After we left, she gave me a large carton of colorful eggs. I brought the eggs to my studio and added them to an encaustic painting in progress, ‘Sweet Spring.’ When I added color to the bellies of the robins, I kept seeing the orange yellow yolks of Martha’s chickens’ eggs and there they are – bright yellow.
Sheila’s creativity can be found everywhere, including her own kitchen. She says, “I needed a kitchen table. I couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I made it.
The photos show only a sampling of the great work Sheila has completed and presented around the world. Speaking with Sheila was informational, inspirational, and full of wonderful personal stories. I hope you take the time to listen to my podcast with artist Sheila Berger – available wherever you get your podcasts.
My collection of copper, with its shiny rose-gold hue, always looks so beautiful after a good cleaning.
This week, my housekeeper, Elvira Rojas, took on the task of cleaning and polishing many of the copper pieces displayed in my studio kitchen. Copper is a soft, malleable and ductile metal with a distinct pinkish-orange color. It's used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a popular element for cookware and other home decorating items. Over time, copper loses its luster and acquires a tarnish when exposed to air, so it is important to clean it regularly.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Here is a shelf of copper molds and other containers in my studio kitchen. A couple times a year, I try to polish all the precious metals in my home including this copper. Copper was actually one of the first metals used by humans more than 10-thousand years ago, and it remains a common household material today.
Polishing copper, silver, brass, or any other metal regularly is generally sufficient to keep it in good condition.
There are several ways to clean copper. Experts recommend using a good-quality, non-abrasive commercial copper polish. I’ve been using Wright’s metal creams for years. Wright’s Copper Cream is a gentle formula that cleans and shines – it’s also great for brass. Each cream tub comes with a sponge, but before starting, it’s also a good idea to get out any additional sponges and towels needed.
Using gloves to prevent the cleaning cream from coming into contact with the skin, completely coat the piece. The copper will start to brighten as it is rubbed. This task is time-consuming, but it is well-worth all the work and elbow grease. And remember to get into all the cracks and crevices.
Whenever cleaning any precious metal, always use a soft moistened sponge. A soft cloth can also work well. And, for tight areas – a soft-bristled brush is good to have on hand. And always use polishes that are non-abrasive, and opt for formulas, such as creams and gels instead of sprays.
After rubbing the piece with cream, wash it with dish soap and water to ensure all the cream is removed.
And give it a thorough rinse with tepid water.
Drying copper as soon as it is washed also helps prevent watermarks. And never place any copper in the dishwasher. The detergents’ aggressive chemicals, combined with the washer’s high cleaning temperature, will eventually cause any copper surfaces to dull, so hand-wash all copper mugs, pots, and pans instead.
Here, Elvira polishes a mold. It may take a little longer when cleaning a piece with more intricate designs or indentations.
But here, one can see the differences between the polished molds and the one still left to do. Notice the ones on the left are in the final soap and rinse stage – so shiny, while the darker piece on the right is waiting its turn.
And here are three all washed and ready for drying and buffing. Jello, or jelly, molds became popular during the Victorian era when cooks experimented with recipes such as meat-based aspic. Copper molds, as opposed to the more affordable tin alternatives, were a sign of wealth. And by the 1950s and 1960s, these pieces were used for other recipes, especially those well-loved jelly creations.
Here is a lid also being carefully rubbed with Wright’s Copper Cream.
And here it is completely done. Each piece takes just a few minutes to do.
The entire mold and lid show off such a beautiful shine.
The copper looks so pretty gleaming on the shelves. Another tip: if you like the way your displays are arranged, take a quick snapshot before you remove them, so you know exactly how they should be returned.
Here are some kettles on the stove – all cleaned and polished. I use this kitchen a lot for television and various photo shoots and for other media appearances. I also use everything that is in the kitchen, so it’s important that everything is always clean and “camera-ready.”
Here is my copper fish kettle poacher before it was cleaned and polished.
And here it is after. Copper fish kettle poachers are prized for their ability to transfer heat quickly and evenly, making them ideal for cooking fish. They are often made from heavy-gauge copper.
Above are many of my regularly used pots. I like to keep a lot of my pots hanging on a rack where they are easy to reach.
How often copper should be polished depends on the exposure to air, moisture, and handling. For pieces that are kept indoors, polishing every few months should be sufficient.
Managing laundry for a large, working farm is a huge task. It's crucial that all the necessary appliances are always in good, working order.
Several loads of laundry are done here every day - clothes and towels, horse blankets and saddle pads, cleaning rags, mats, etc. To keep up with it all, I have washers and dryers dedicated to just these essentials. Aside from the machines in my homes, I have a washer and dryer pair in my stable, and two washers and dryers in my production studio building. All of them are Speed Queen units with sizable drum capacities and special cycles specifically designed for heavy duty loads. Speed Queen washers and dryers are efficient, easy-to-use and last for many years.
Enjoy these photos.
In summer, the horses and donkeys wear protective sheets to block the sun’s strong UV rays. Here’s Bond with my female donkeys Billie and Jude “JJ” Junior after their morning in the pastures.
The sheets and sheet neck guards not only protect them from the sun, but also from the pesky bugs that bite at their coats.
These sheets have soft form-fitting micro mesh which is light and comfortable – even on the warmest of days.
Because horses and donkeys love to roll when out in the pastures, these sheets are washed regularly and frequently.
For all the heavy duty items that need to be washed around the farm, I like to use these Speed Queen washers and dryers. Speed Queen was founded in 1908 in Wisconsin by Joe Barlow and John Seelig as Barlow & Seelig Manufacturing. As young entrepreneurs, they started out by taking existing machine designs and improving them. In 1922, Speed Queen was the first company to introduce washers with nickel-copper tubs. And in 1928, they renamed the company “Speed Queen.”
As with any washable item, it is a good idea to zip, tie, or velcro any openings, so nothing gets tangled during the washing process.
Another good laundry room tip is to make sure the doors of the washer and dryer don’t block each other. Be sure to install front loading machine door hinges on the most convenient sides. This washer opens out to the left while the dryer swings open to the right. Doors are not in the way when unloading and loading.
Speed Queen’s washers take all kinds of detergents – liquid, powder, and pods. I only use the gentlest unscented liquid detergents for all the washing done here at the farm.
Speed Queen’s Pet Plus cycles are specially designed for removing hair from fabrics. It may run a little longer, but it gets the job done.
These heavy duty model machines are also at a convenient height for loading and unloading. Speed Queen makes a variety of residential and commercial products, from 25-pound capacity tumblers to 250-pound washer-extractors, and dryers. These units in my stable are models FF7 and DR7 front loading machines.
The dryer has a roomy drum capacity for larger loads. The dryer also includes anti-static capabilities. To prevent the dryer from overheating, always clean the screen or filter after every use, and regularly remove accumulated lint from behind the unit.
Once the sheets are washed, they’re dried for a short time and then hung on the rack.
Residential sized units are installed in my guest house and production building. Speed Queen offers a selection of models for various needs.
This washer is a top loader, so its door opens up. All Speed Queen washers and dryers are well known for their durability and strong performance. These models are also very quiet.
The tub capacity is usually measured in raw cubic feet. Various machines have different sizes to accommodate individual family needs.
In this load, Elvira places a number of bath towels into the sizable tub, spreading them equally around the machine’s agitator.
The liquid detergent is placed into the soap compartment. Here, it is in the center agitator.
Speed Queen’s washer panel has easy to read options and allows one to customize the cycle for specific needs and times. Always be sure to configure the correct washer settings for a load. A regular cycle is best for sturdy and dirty items, while the permanent press setting is fine for the average load. Use hot water for white loads, warm water for the average load, and cold water for bright colors.
This dryer is front loading and has a large drum capacity for a large load of towels or other clothes.
Once the load is complete, Elvira places it in the dryer and selects her settings. Most dryers have settings that allow one to choose how dry the items would be. The permanent press setting has a cool-down cycle at the end to reduce wrinkling. On air fluff, the dryer circulates air but adds no heat. Bath towels should be dried completely.
And here are the finished towels – so clean, fluffy, and well dried.
And as always recommended, the lint catcher is emptied after every load.
I am so pleased with all my Speed Queen units – they’re dependable and efficient, wash after wash.
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