By Jae-Ha Kim
Tribune Media Services
January 11, 2011
Jewelry designer April Star Davis has created pieces worn onscreen and off by celebs such as Jennifer Garner, Justin Timberlake and Kate Moss. But one of her proudest accomplishments was founding Designers 4 Africa, which helps nonprofit groups raise funds for those needing aid in Africa. Davis recently traveled to Uganda to teach HIV positive widows how to create their own jewelry — work they can do while caring for their children.
The 41-year-old artist, who resides in San Diego with her husband and daughter, says she has learned that helping others isn’t as daunting as it initially seemed. “You just need to start somewhere,” she says. “It gets easier after that.”
Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?
A. France. Honestly, one thing I loved was the women. They had lines on their faces and I don’t think I saw one person with any traces of plastic surgery. Coming from California, that was a novelty. The Louvre is breathless, but the street art surpassed anything in the galleries there.
Q. Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A. I like Salvation Mountain in Niland, Calif. Leonard (Knight) is an amazing outsider artist who lets anyone paint on his crazy, manmade mountain.
Q. What are your favorite hotels?
A. They’re all in California: Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, Calif., the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo and Humphreys Half Moon Inn & Suites in San Diego. When I travel outside of the United States, I stay in really inexpensive places on the outskirts of the city.
Q. What are your favorite restaurants?
A. Filippi’s Pizza Grotto in San Diego’s Little Italy, Pappaleco in San Diego and a tiny place in Lugazi (in Uganda) that had the best French fries.
Q. When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A. My prescriptions. No one says that but let’s face it — if you’re on meds you better bring some! Toothbrush, African lip balm and nighttime Tylenol. I like to knock myself out during flights of 12 hours or longer. I never have had jet lag doing this and arrive fully rested. Also, a sketchpad, pens and a Sharpie. I never leave home without a Sharpie or a Swiss Army Knife.
Q. What are your favorite cities?
A. Kutna Hora, New York City, Bali (Indonesia) and Lugazi (Uganda), where I left part of my heart. The children and women are amazing and I learned more from them than any people I have ever met.
Q. What kind of research do you do before you go away on a trip?
A. When I was going to Paris, I did no research except to contact a painter I wanted to meet. I never use maps and avoid most tourist places. I feel like if I’m going to a new country, I want to be as much a part of how they live and not in a cleaned up, Americanized version.
Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A. I want to go everywhere, but the Middle East and Asia would top the list.
Q. What is your best and/or worst vacation memory?
A. Best memory would be in Paris. I went to dinner with Cristobal Jodorowsky — son of Alejandro, who directed my favorite film “Santa Sangre.” One day we hung out at his flat and I watched him paint for hours while I worked on a piece of jewelry for him. The best part? We traded. He gave me three small paintings for a necklace. Meeting an artist and going to their work or living space is my favorite thing. My worst memory — well, in Uganda, I got kidney stones but didn’t tell anyone. I was teaching at the time and at one point I had to go to the hospital. The roads were so horrible. Kidney stones and a bumpy ride didn’t make for a great time.
© 2011 JAE-HA KIM
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