For the last month, Kim Kori, a prominent Sedona-based sculptor, has been recovering from emergency surgery following a brain hemorrhage she experienced at her home. During a recent interview at her Uptown studio and home, Kori appeared upbeat and relieved to be sculpting again, but also anxious about the future of her creative work as she recovers. 

On June 25, Kori was working out at home with a friend. As she was stretching, an intense headache came on and then she felt an excruciating pain in her neck. Her friend called 911 and in a short time EMTs from the Sedona Fire District arrived at her home. After seeing doctors at Sedona Emergency Medical Center, she was helicoptered to the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix for emergency surgery. 

In her studio on a recent day, a black headband — which Kori said she never usually wears — artfully covered a one-inch incision and patch of shaved hair that is still growing back after neurosur­geons operated to drain fluid from her brain. After surgery and a two-week stay in an inten­sive care unit, Kori returned to Sedona and, little by little, has begun sculpting again.

Her studio is strewn with clay models and hollow wax figures of flowers, frogs, mice and other woodland creatures. Huge sycamore leaves picked up from Tlaquepaque — models for what will become bronze leaves — rest on a table. There’s a terrarium housing two small frogs, and finished bronze sculp­tures — seemingly alive despite their heft — dot the room.

Kori is prominent in Sedona’s arts community. According to Ken Rowe, a Sedona-based sculptor and co-owner of Rowe Fine Art Gallery in Tlaquepaque, which exhibits her work, few active artists have been working in Sedona for as long as Kori. She moved to Sedona 45 years ago and began sculpting while picking up part-time work at a Sedona art foundry in the 1980s. Kori excelled at the work of preparing other artists’ designs for casting and, on a whim, decided to cast some bronze sculptures of her own, “just for fun.”

The next day, one of the sculp­tures sold in a local gallery.

“So I thought, ‘I guess this is a medium I’m supposed to be in,’” she said.

“Her style is unlike any other wildlife artist, “ says Rowe. “She’s very sensitive to the animals that are the unsung heroes [like mice and frogs]. She conveys stories in bronze in a way that I just can’t figure out.”

In terms of her place in the community, Rowe adds, “Everybody loves her, and everybody knows her.” In 2010, designs Kori created with Rowe, “Above and Beyond,” were selected for installation on the roundabouts at the Y intersection on SR 179 and the Brewer Road intersec­tion on 89A. The sculptures, featuring ravens and eagles among rocks, were installed in 2012. At least 15 of her sculp­tures have been purchased for public display across the U.S. and Canada, and her works have been selected for numerous national exhibitions.

But the recent brain hemor­rhage put the future of her artwork — and her life — in jeopardy. Just a day before the crisis, Kori said, she was excited about starting three new projects. But immediately following surgery, it wasn’t clear whether or not she would be able to sculpt again. She experienced bouts of headache, “brain fog” and fatigue. 

“I was just really down because I couldn’t work at all, at first,” Kori said. “I had to just kind of lay around. So, then I started working. I worked an hour, and then next day, a couple hours, and I kind of built up to where I can work a few hours [a day]. A lot of the brain fog is gone, and I’m starting to think more clearly.”

Kori credits her survival and strong recovery to the quick response of Sedona’s emer­gency services and the support of the community.

“[The EMTs] were fast. And they were so good. I just am really grateful to those EMT’s and to my friends.”

Kori says that in addition to the quality of care she received from Sedona’s emergency and medical personnel, she has also been moved by the support of the community.

“My friends and family, they were just amazing,” said Kori. “I didn’t realize how many friends I had until this happened, and that’s probably the best thing about it happening. It’s a happy story in a way. It’s awful that it happened, but the outcome and seeing how smoothly it went, I feel really blessed.”

During the interview, Kori appeared cheerful, but also anxious about the future of her work, despite her tentative steps back into sculpting. She said the hemorrhage and recovery forced her to cancel a trip to a large art show in Colorado where she makes most of her summer income. 

“Since the 80s I’ve been doing sculpture and I’ve made my living doing sculpture, supported myself, built a studio, bought a house, all with my art … it’s not a small feat. You get really scared sometimes because you never know what’s going to sell each month, but somehow it just happens when I need it to.”

“I really want to get back to my art,” she adds. “I really am a fighter and survivor because I’ve gotten through a lot of stuff, and so I’ll just keep on doing what I have to do to keep my studio and house. I’m working a little more every day, and I think I’m going to be OK. I’m going to be able to continue to do art.”

Scott Shumaker can be reached at 282-7795 ext 117 or email at sshumaker@larsonnewspapers.com