Walking into the garage, a barrage of creativity was suddenly exposed to the world; notes, sketches, works in progress, and pieces of material that will one day become art are scattered about his studio, a constantly shifting portrait of the man’s imaginative and unique imagination. Our curiosity was piqued as we contemplated this portrait, gaining insight into his work, process, and his distinctly positive philosophy on life.

A fairly humble workspace, with knick-knacks, collections of metal pieces and buckets full of color-coded wood, he explained where he found his love of art and how it’s his “true calling.” A nearby iPod filled the room with relaxed music, paint stains, and dust marked the floor, all of which only added to the atmosphere of the workspace. On a wall laid a sign, reading “In this area, all laws of physics will be strictly enforc’d” The eclectic work space, with music, art cluttered into every nook and cranny and kooky signs, gave a tangible view of Joe’s one-of-a-kind, upbeat personality.

As we looked around at the unfinished pieces of art, wood scraps and tools— some new, some lightly touched —we realized we had entered into the world of this inspiring Marin County artist.

“You know I think it all started way back in my twenties when I took a summer bumming around Mexico. I’m not a Catholic but I was so affected by all the villages, each one had a little plaza and a little church. It was 150 degrees outside and I would walk in the church with the candles flickering and they had the Santos figures and the Reliquary figures would be there and those really affected me. It was just one of those moments. So that was the original inspiration for a lot of my work,” Joe said.