Casa Dorinda is home to many wonderful artisans, and Dr. Paula von Simson is at the head of her class. Or, more specifically, she sculpts busts of her peers — one as a surprise gift to her friend.

“Bringing life and a soul to my sculptures is what I truly like about sculpting. There is also a very relaxing component to working clay with your hands,” Dr. von Simson said. “I was a bit apprehensive in the beginning as to how Mr. (Fred) Perutz might react, but he was excited to get the bust and very happy with the outcome.


“People’s faces and expressions always held a fascination for me in my work as a physician as well as, later on, as an artist. I believe that an artist’s task is to capture not just his subject’s resemblance, but, even more so his or hers ‘essence.’ Mr. Perutz’s face has always held a fascination for me, because of its interesting mixture of seriousness, dignity and wisdom with an underlying sense of humor and this is what I tried to portray. A person’s face, no matter how beautiful, needs to project an underlying character and above all be alive. This can be quite a challenge, but it is a most significant ingredient in every art form.”

“Amazingly, I had no idea that Dr. Paula von Simson had contemplated it, and even less that she had been working on it for some time,” Fred Perutz said. “I never posed for her, and she created this remarkable likeness just from casual snapshots. Paula has created a large number of sculptures. Her talent in this and other fields is truly astonishing.”

Dr. von Simson continues a lifelong love affair with art and began sculpting in 2002. A psychiatrist by trade, she practiced in the Bay Area for 38 years with privileges at Stanford Hospital. Dr. von Simson moved to Casa Dorinda in 2009.

Casa Dorinda is California’s premiere LifeCare community. Located in the heart of Montecito on the historic Bliss estate, Casa Dorinda combines private medical care and a culturally rich environment to truly elevate retirement living.

Casa Dorinda is a private LifeCare Continuing Care Retirement Community owned and operated by the Montecito Retirement Association, a nonsectarian, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization.

— Toby Ayars represents Casa Dorinda.