Tears and Smiles

In June I showed my work at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts. Lake Oswego has always been a sculpture friendly town since the rise of Jerry Joslin to sculpting fame. They were also the first community in the Portland Metro area to do a “Sculpture Without Walls” program, installing sculpture in outdoor locations throughout the city.

It is always so interesting to watch people interact with my work… watch when a piece catches the eye or strikes a cord. One touching response came from “How Far Love Goes”… a piece about the inevitable…. about letting our children go when it is time for them to make their own way. This lovely woman was facing the wedding of her only daughter and though so very happy for her daughter, she couldn’t help but feel the missing of the once little girl. This shared moment has come back to me lately with my only son in Taiwan for a month on his first great adventure on his own.

Over the weekend I also observed the desire to touch or hold the smooth sensuous bronze… to physically interact with what the eye enjoying. This has lead to a series of small egg shaped sculptures that I am very excited about and will talk about soon.

The biggest surprise of the weekend was the winning of the Jurors Award. Gosh, I haven’t won an award since I gave up one-of-a-kind art for the security of production pottery and believe me, I was thrilled.

Each time we put ourselves out there as artists we become so vulnerable. Our emotions are as equally on display as our art. But without these interactions we would be living in a bubble and miss the opportunity to share a hug with with a fellow sister of the community of Moms or grin like a cheshire cat while holding a Blue ribbon. The world outside the studio is a nice place to visit….

“I wish you wouldn’t keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly; you make one quite giddy!”
“All right,” said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.” Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Tags: Lake Oswego festival of the Arts

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