Before She Discovered Art…
My mom always took pride in her arts and crafts. She would spend hours making our valentines, even sewing tulle around construction paper for that extra special “nineteenth-century” look. Mom would stay up all night to design beautiful Easter eggs, using eggs she’d “blown” so that we could keep them forever. She drew pictures, and glued things (such as dried split peas) to them, making beautiful designs. She also made many faces and characters. Mom still has the huge brandy snifter filled with these eggs (although, a word of advice – don’t take the lid off. They’re still eggs, after all!).
Mom also worked on intricate “coloring pages” of girls from other eras dressed in beautiful gowns, and she took great pride in her work being perfect.
The Discovery…
In the 1970’s, my parents enrolled us in a clay sculpture class at the Creative Arts Center in Oak Cliff (in Dallas Texas). Our class was filled with daring and talented sculptors. We wouldn’t just make small, solid pieces. We would make very large, hollow sculptures held together by the internal armatures we’d constructed as our pieces grew taller and taller. None of the small pot-stuff for us – our stuff was BIG.
When we teenagers drifted off to other things, my Mom stuck with it, and continues to this day. However, she’s branched out quite a bit since then. She has also done marble carving, welding art, and bronzing. She’s amazingly good (probably because she’s a perfectionist). Her work is so lifelike – except of course for the pieces that are supposed to be fun. My Dad’s office was filled with her work – he always had first choice (and he basically took everything). Now her pieces are placed all over her house – you think you’re in an art gallery when you walk through it.
Keep up the good work, Mom. I need more stuff!!
(The horse was a group effort. But
that is Mom up there!)
