Spotlight On Sara Liberto – Owner Of Sunhawk Studio

I was born in Mississippi, but moved with my mom and two sisters to Tennessee, where I spent most of my childhood and youth. It’s funny, while living in the south, most people asked where my accent was from — they thought we were from the Midwest or California. But since moving to CA, I can definitely hear my southern accent. LOL!

This could be a long answer — I really just pursued anything that intrigued me or pulled me towards it, which was a lot. Followed curiosity wherever it led and I’m just really into being alive. My academic journey spanned 15 years at university and it was wide-ranging and philosophically formative. It was a devotion of mind, body, and soul, really, but creativity and music have always been steadfast anchors of growth and inward exploration in my life. My family is largely creative and musically-oriented. I did study fashion design, but left to pursue philosophy because it felt like it was stemming from a deeper, more valuable or meaningful current. Best decision of my life, really, was pursuing philosophy as a path. I began a doctoral program (consciousness studies), but opted for the path of a master’s degree instead. After graduation, I decided to move back to Nashville. Found myself working in tech but eventually resigned, then out of left-field, began working as a wardrobe stylist in the music industry assisting an established stylist there. That was the most fun and fruitful gig, connecting with so many talented and humble people, everyone making their own dreams come to life. That’s when I started making jewelry — learned how to work with metal, metalsmithing. Happy to be here in the beautiful Coachella Valley now! Just completely in awe of the desert and everything about it. It feels as if I’ve come alive here in some sort of way that is directly related to the sun and stars. Can’t put my finger on it yet, but I’m here for it.

This is a crazy story, actually, one that I’ve been trying to flesh out since moving here, but I’ve been so busy with jewelry and life. Basically, during my first semester in grad school, I had a powerful dream that took place in the desert. But I didn’t experience the desert until a vacation in 2021 — eight years after the dream.

My family lives along the coast of California, so the desert was a completely new/different place to me. I decided to book a month-long trip to get away from the COVID situation, so I could breathe and write. I had some kind of yearning for solitude, reflection, and to just write something. I recalled the dream from grad school and booked the trip. Thirty minutes later, I saw a snake (deceased) in the parking lot but it looked like it was trying to eat its own tail. Like an Ouroboros. I thought that was interesting and strange timing. 

Shortly after arriving in La Quinta, I knew I was supposed to live here. It was like my insides finally matched my outsides. Some kind of instant harmony or resonance occurred. I knew almost immediately, and it changed the tone and intention of the trip — from devoting myself to writing, to simply being here in this place.

The trip ended with me signing a lease on the house I live in now, which just happens to have the same rock mound I was sitting on in my dream, gazing at the colorful skies in amazement, which is what I do now. It’s truly crazy. So, I guess you could say a dream brought me here.

Since a young age, yes. I would get lost in my grandmother’s wardrobe. She had beautiful garments from Italy, tons of furs, pearls, jewels, hats, gloves. She taught me how to sew when I was 5-6 years old and the love of wardrobe stayed with me. I was constantly sketching ideas through middle school & high school. I applied to FIT in NYC when I was a senior in high school and was accepted on scholarship, but my dad took me to visit the campus, and while we were there, he told me I wasn’t ready to live in a big city. I went to design school in Nashville instead, but dropped out to pursue philosophy. Back again, full circle.

There were many things about tech that I loved and thrived in, but I’m creative to the core and that aspect of myself was largely ignored and neglected, therefore always calling out to me — so I resigned. Even though the job offered financial security and stability, I just couldn’t do it another day. I resigned without a plan and while I was on my bed journaling and crying about what I had just done, my old roommate called and asked if I could help her friend, a celebrity stylist in the music industry who was growing fast and needed an assistant stylist. I dried my eyes and said yes. This is when my creative spark rekindled and I subsequently started a jewelry line.

Lots of reading, experimenting, and YouTube videos of professionals. I watched, listened, learned, and then gave it a go. The more mistakes I made, the better I got at it. Working with metal is very challenging — it will cut you, burn you, make you scream — but it is how I’ve learned to be more patient, gentle, and intentional. I have a lot of respect for metal and metalworkers.

Ooooh, I like this question because I don’t have an immediate answer! When I’ve incorporated desert symbolism into a piece, that feels especially Sunhawk, because I renamed the jewelry line to reflect the move here and the transition to creating desert-vibed jewelry. I do love making sculptural pieces and would like to make more. I’m recently working with gorgeous gemstones that catch the sunlight in incredibly beautiful ways, and that excites me, to see where this takes my work and how I can infuse metal. My creative urges, though, bend towards pieces that look like ancient artifacts or gallery pieces. Basic stuff bores me to death. I like a challenge, some mystery, some weirdness, some edge.

I’m absolutely obsessed with colorful and sparkly gemstones and diamonds. And alchemical symbols! And I’m dying to cross the rainbow bridge into gold. Working with brass and bronze has been all I’ve had access to for nearly a decade, I’m beyond ready to work with gold but I’m self-funded and self-operating, which has made it so difficult. I’m working on my first ever rose gold custom piece right now and it has given me so much hope and excitement. It’s symbolic and huge for me.

I don’t have a structured process, but everything begins in my imagination — playing with shapes and lines and colors in my head and how they will be framed on the body. I let the stone speak and tell me all the ways it could potentially be worked with. Sometimes a piece will completely change in the middle of the process. I stay open to the process and let it happen through me.

The beauty of this place shows up and comes through all the time. I can’t believe my eyes when I look at this landscape and every detail about it. It blows me away and keeps me endlessly inspired. The energy is immaculate, the wildlife is abundant and sacred, the plants are shocking and surreal, the entire ecosystem amazes me and I hope to infuse that into everything I make while living here.

Beauty, confidence, and elegance — all of the natural sort.

My website is the main hub, but also Instagram (I try to stay present but my hands are busy!) — and locally at It Refills in Palm Desert, the weekly Sunday market in Old Town La Quinta, as well as Late Sunday Afternoon in Venice Beach.

That is a huge part of my business. It’s fully collaborative, an exchange of open dialogue, which takes place via emails. Someone lets me know their idea or need/desire in a piece, I then send sketches and ideas, then we go from there. I love the custom process and clients do, too. It’s quite special.

This excites me! Building the pond was a bit on the easy side, since I grew up working on farms. The first time I held a shovel, I was four years old. After I moved in to my current house, I saw how abundant the wildlife was, so I installed several water stations, but found myself constantly refilling them. The sun evaporates the water rapidly, but also the animals stay thirsty. I realized I needed a bigger water source and decided to get the ole shovel out. I decided on a spot underneath a gorgeous pinyon pine tree, where the animals love finding shade, and then sketched shapes to fit the space. Once the shape was decided upon, I did some research, made a plan, then started digging. I ended up making it twice the size I initially planned, and once I saw how much the hummingbirds loved bathing in the waterfall, I installed another one. I did all the labor myself and every day the love blesses me — it stays busy with animals and is how Dahsha found me. The pond turned out to be a pot of gold in this rainbow land. I’ve never seen so many rainbows in my life as I’ve seen living here. Something about the atmosphere. I can’t live without wildlife, at this point. In fact, I feel myself becoming more wild being here amongst them.

Dahsha is unreal — she gets better each day and now that she’s coming out of survival mode, her personality is starting to beam and she is such a beacon of love, innocence, playfulness, and joy. I’m still in shock from the rescue. I truly cannot believe she is alive, much less, my new best friend, roommate, and love of my life. I’m trying to wrap my head around all the layers of the rescue and the unforeseen timing of events which unfolded. I had very little control or power over the situation, and all I could do was stay as present as possible, dedicate my mind/body/soul to ensuring the safety of the two puppies, and exhausting every ounce of myself until they were safe and secure. We will miss Salami Mami forever and honor her. Dahsha is now safe, secure, and absolutely spoiled.

Bringing Angelo in a few weeks ago was unexpected, but he’s a sweet ball of sunshine and just wants peace and friends. He came from the same dog-hoarding house Dahsha and Salami Mami ran away from. When I got the phone call that Salami Mami’s sibling was just mauled nearly to death, and then I went over and saw his condition, it was clear if he didn’t go to the emergency room he would die in a matter of hours. His injuries were extreme and severe. Totally starved and dehydrated. At intake, they asked the name and “Angel” immediately popped into my mind. Then they asked the sex, but I had just met him and didn’t know, so we lifted the leg and saw it was a boy. So, I say, “We’ll call him Angelo.” And that he is. A total sweetheart, so gentle, tolerant, patient, and a beautiful little boy. And to think he was so tortured by other dogs for simply wanting to eat and be here. From what I know of him so far, he doesn’t have it in him to fight, especially for a meal. It’s a trauma rehab center right now in my studio, very chill and nourishing. Lotta love, lotta food, lotta snuggles, and a lotta walks outside.

[Editor’s note – you can read more about Angelo’s rescue and donate to his recovery here.]

I feel as a business owner here, that it is easy to connect with other business owners. The spirit of entrepreneurship is alive here! I was surprised how much potential exists in the Valley as a business-minded person. I would love to keep building here. The community is solid and fluid, also completely open to the arts. What a reward that is for us all.

Stay open, let ideas evolve, get connected. I feel weird offering others advice, but those three things will certainly lead to somewhere good.

The air! The sun! The energy! The life growing here! Everything — every cell of my body is in love with this place.

Handel’s Ice Cream — I joke, but I haven’t eaten at many places yet, and am open to recommendations. If I’m down in the Valley, I usually stop at Chef Tanya’s Kitchen to grab something. I like Mastro’s steakhouse on El Paseo, The Daily Grill, Baby’s Marché, The Venuesushi, some spots in Palm Springs. Would love to know any good spots to eat.

I really don’t leave home much, but It Refills (pictured) is a special shop and feels like the future. Sustainable everything — I love it. it feels like a bright, happy, and clean hug in there. El Paseo and Old Town La Quinta are wonderful and where I take people when they visit. Elizabeth & Prince is a gorgeously curated store. As a lifelong tennis player, the BNP Paribas Open feels like Disney World to me. I look forward to it every year and can’t wait to join a tennis club at some point. I would love to start a line of stylish tennis wear — I’m already cooking something up in the jewelry kitchen for the tennis ladies in the Valley. Stay tuned!