Kathrine Ruth “Tika” Solnar Phipps

An extraordinary and generous spirit has passed: the artist Kathrine Ruth Solnar Phipps, known to all as Tika, on August 22, 2023 in San Luis Obispo.

Born in Portland, Or, September 21, 1948, Tika was raised in Palo Alto with three sisters by their mother,Jane, after the death of their father, George Edwin Solnar Jr. Jane ArleneThompson was Assistant to the Dean of Engineering at Stanford University. The four sisters, Tika, Jann, Sally, and Maryann, close in age, grew to be strong an independent.

Tika knew she was an artist since childhood. By age ten she was teaching drawing and painting to other neighborhood children.

After studying at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, she worked for Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas at their new Zoetrope studio while working as a fashion model in San Francisco.

She received her A.M.I. credential from the Washington Montessori Institute in Washington D.C.. She began teaching adults and children in Los Angeles, then moved to Santa Barbara with her first husband, artist Dana Pottish, raised their daughter, Sophia, sons Samuel Dashiel, and Nathan, all while teaching at the Montessori Center School.

Tika continued her painting and sculpture, had four exhibitions of her work at the Santa Barbara Museum Art, and an acclaimed exhibition at Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum in 1992.

That year Tika moved to Los Osos where she made her home and studio in Baywood Park. In 1996 she married the artist Richard Phipps.

A true polymath, Tika was an accomplished photographer with a passion for fly fishing and camping in wild places in mountains of northern California, the Great Basin, streams and lakes of Nevada and southern Utah.

She and Richard had a business in pearls and colored gemstones as Phipps Fine Jewelry.

Tika became a competition hand gun shooter certified an instructor by the California Department of Justice. She identified herself as a hedge witch for her expertise growing medicinal plants, cymbidium orchids, and Monarch butterflies.

She raised and trained their three Papillons.

Recognized for her open-hearted generosity of spirit, Tika was loved by all who met her.

She is survived by Richard, daughter Sophia Sunjara of Coral Spring, Fla, sons Samuel Pottish of Torrance, and Nathan Pottish of Newport Beach, sisters Jann Dessling of Los Altos, Sally Straka of Ione, Maryann Copple of San Jose, Nephew Andrew Dessling of Loomis, niece Sara Graham of San Jose, and grand daughters Faye and Dana Pottish.

Tika gave Richard the gift of knowing her as the true love of his life.