Home with a cultural flair

Editor's Note: The homes of Jeff and Christie Kammann, Tom and Gloria Bastien, Krista Rodin and Gary and Anna Lee will be highlighted in the 46th annual Home A Rama highlighting outstanding homes in Yuma County from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets are $25 and proceeds benefit the Yuma Reading Council's adult literacy program.

Tickets can be purchased at Papa San Rice Bowl, 2770 S. 4th Ave.; Zinn Printing, 386 E. 16th St.; Karen Spencer Real Estate, 11361 S. Foothills Blvd.; and the Yuma Reading Council, 825 S. Orange Ave.

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Visitors to Krista Rodin's home may lose themselves in the exotic world of South Asia, thanks to furnishings she brings from there. Crafts from India, Nepal and Tibet abound, but there is also decor from Turkey and the South American country of Peru.

"I try to buy from the artist and not the middleman," said Rodin.

"Crafts people are some of the most genuine people you want to meet. You're more appreciative when you come to know them. You look at their art and you remember the person who created it."

Strolling across sparkling wooden and tile floors - the tiles in a pattern designed by her - Rodin singles out some of the more memorable oriental rugs accenting her Mediterranean-style home at 3364 S. 17th Ave.

One was woven by a refugee woman she met in Dharamsala, India. Another is a Persian rug that has been in her family for more than 100 years. But Rodin is careful to point out a pair of intricately tooled Peruvian leather footstools on wooden frames.

"I saw the guy who made them," she noted. "I pick out the furnishings and hand-carry everything back."

Rodin often brings home work from the Northern Arizona University-Yuma campus, where she is the campus executive officer. Most of her time is spent at her computer in the family room, a space combining dining, living and fitness rooms.

This is where she feels most at peace, surrounded by her Australian cockatiels and rosella, an active bird that helps prevent even a demanding agenda from becoming all work and no play.

A painting on the wall by a Tibetan Reiki master living in exile in Nepal depicts the Om, a sacred Eastern religious symbol. She said that when she saw the painting in Nepal, she didn't think she could afford it, but she offered what she could afford.

"I told him if he didn't sell it before I left Nepal in the next three weeks, to give me a call," she explained. "I didn't think I'd get it, but the day before I left he said, 'I guess it's yours.'"

Another painting is an artistic rendering of the Nepalese Thanka, a meditation symbol. Rodin met a Thanka master who offered to make a copy of it, the only copy there is.

"Shri Yantra is a symbol that involves interlacing triangles and circles to represent the interconnection of everything," Rodin said.

Looking across the multi-tiered yard that sits just above the East Main Canal, Rodin said, "The view is pretty phenomenal. The trail will take you all the way to the wetlands."

Rodin said she was pleased to help Home A Rama, and anything that supports critical thinking, a world of ideas, or broadens horizons.

"When one travels one should interact with other people they meet, and just enjoy the view."

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William Roller can be reached at wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.