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German born Vanessa Paschakarnis migrated to Nova Scotia before coming to Pietrasanta in northern Italy. Hers is a philosophical approach to sculpture.

I met Vanessa through Californian photographer, Gail Skoff, who took a special series of photos of Vanessa, which you can see on this page.

In front of her studio-home is a dusty yard filled with her work. She works in large series’ and themes include horned and winged beings, beasts, and shadows.

Behind us is the large hangar-like industrial building with huge windows, which is being transformed into studio space for her and her husband, sculptor John Greer.

Vanessa is hugely inspired by nature and we settle to chat in a small oasis of flowers and water – where a pond, fed by a stream is home to fish and frogs. I also meet her spectacular Bengal cat, Tarzan von der Saffenburg.