Holes in our Lives
First I must apologize that I didn’t get a blog out on Saturday. My father took a turn for the worse on Friday and that same day most of my siblings along with my kids and grandkids arrived to help me celebrate my recent marriage. After much deliberation, we went ahead with the celebration as there was nothing we could do and it could be weeks before the inevitable with dad. We toasted to dad at my house Sunday only to find out that as we toasted, he passed away. I’m not sure how I feel yet. We did not have a good relationship most of my life but we were friends in the end. I think that makes this easier to take but harder to navigate as I don’t know what emotions may surface as the days go by.
I almost took the week off from blogging but decided it wouldn’t matter much. Work and art is what often keeps us going through the many ups and downs that life throws at us. Art is also, for me and many others, a very honest thing, and I think, when you have a complicated relationship with a person who figured hugely in your life, art can be a refuge, an exploration, and a comfort as one figures things out when they are suddenly no longer there.
Right now, I am not sad, rather, I am relieved as he’d been through so much the last few years. But there is a hole that I will have to figure out how to fill or to live with. I don’t mind holes … you can see things through them, revealing layers and depths and you can’t help but notice them. So this week, my posts might be short, I just don’t know yet, but I’ll post pieces where holes and spaces play a large part. And maybe we can all look at what these spaces mean to us.
So today, with holes and cracks and imperfections that I think all come together as pure beauty, I have a selection of focal beads by Staci Louise Smith. The various textures could symbolize the complexity of our lives and our emotions. I love the way the central swath of crackle looks like a horizon and is also the point at which the holes appear. There is a lot of metaphor we could pull out of pieces like these. That is the wonder and beauty of art, that the best of it let’s us read what we need to from it.
For more of Staci’s work, you can wander over to her website or spend some time on her blog.
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I’ve already commented on your Father’s passing and won’t repeat it here…However there is something mentioned in this blog that either wasn’t in your FB post or I missed it…YOU HAVE KIDS & Grand Kids? Or was that a typo?
With respects to the subject matter of this Blog…I love the selection you’ve chosen…thanks for sharing this…
Brenda
oh, you are too kind Brenda. Yes, I have two step-daughters who they lived with me even after their father and I divorced so they’re my kids and between them they have three girls that I am soooo in love with. I hit 50 a few months ago so am just starting to feel ok with the grandma label although I proudly do not act my age. 😀
Sage thank you for sharing your feelings re the death of your father and your marriage,such a hurricane of mixed emotions for you and your family.I congratulate you and your husband and wish both of you a fun filled and healthy life together.
I am so glad I subscribe to this mag. it’s just what I want and nee which I d.I did.’t know what the difference was between this mag. and others I was just so happy to soak up all the info. and now this is the only subscription I make and I love the professional language in descriptions of work as it really makes me think about my work at a deeper level by offering another point of view which I can consider and I am most grateful to you for this.I also enjoy checking out other artists work from the choices you make.
Joh
Thank you for your kind words. So glad the magazine has so much to offer you. It always helps to get confirmation that we are getting the right things out to you all.