CHERRIES IN CLAY FOR MOTHERS DAY

So, my beautiful fourteen year-old daughter Abby and I have a little art exchange (for lack of a better term) going, which I think is really cool.  In a way our "exchange" is also a mother's day tribute to my mom, who I miss terribly, as well as a tribute to my daughter, who makes me a mom every day and who I love like crazy.

The story starts with my decision to give my parents a gift for their new home about five years ago.  They were in the enviable position of not needing anymore “things,” so I decided to paint a picture for them as a housewarming gift.  My dad loves cherries - when my brothers and I were kids, my mom would always get him a giant crate of cherries for Father’s Day - so I decided cherries would be the subject of a painting I would do for them.  I had been doing most of my work in oil pastels, so that was the medium I chose to work in.

I’m an amateur painter/artist, and quite unskilled, so every painting I do is like a studio experience where I have to learn about shapes, lines, shadow, dimension, color and composition.  Since I don’t really know what I’m doing, I practice and sketch a lot.  I need to mention here that I’m very lucky to have a captive audience: my husband and my daughter are my handy built-in critics.   They saw me paint cherries ad nauseam, and when asked, patiently evaluated my work, and gave me feedback on what they liked and didn’t like (colors: not “cherry” enough; lines: “too stiff”, etc.).  Eventually, all their comments helped me produce an OK painting of a bunch of cherries, which my dad (my greatest fan) has enjoyed - here it is hanging in his kitchen:

My cherry obsession continued when my almost sister-in-law Michelle saw the painting and asked if I would make another one that she and my brother could hang in their newly renovated home.  I was worried about the idea of a “commission” but I really wanted to give her something she liked to help welcome her into our family, so, again, I drew, sketched and practiced painting cherries: single cherries, multiple cherries, abstract cherries, realistic cherries, and a few good cherries mixed in with loads of bad cherries.  Our house was swimming in cherry sketches, pictures, cherry still life models and paintings.  Again, my sweet audience of 2 kindly provided feedback that helped me see my work from another perspective.  Eventually, I was finally satisfied enough with a piece to give to Michelle and Joel.  

Here is the painting - I called it Cherries in Love, which I think sold my brother sight unseen (he’s nuts about Michelle).  It’s not bad - I like it from a distance because I can’t see all my mistakes, and I like the juiciness of the color of the cherries from this distance, which is one of the things Michelle told me she was looking for.  You can see the cherries hanging on the stairway wall in their house in the picture (sorry it's so small):

(Note:  the painting partially seen in the foreground left was done by our cousin Howie Ross, an amazingly talented painter - it’s quite an honor to have my little cherry painting in the same space as Howie’s most excellent work).

Sometime during my extended cherry “period,” Abby came home from school and told me that she was doing block prints in her art class.  She told me that she had sketched a design for her print, was carving it into a relief matrix, was really excited about it, and couldn’t wait to show me.  Turns out, she drew a picture of cherries.  Go figure.  I was thrilled when on the last day of school she came home with this print: 

I enjoy this print every day and I also really love the idea that while I was obsessed with drawing and painting cherries, Abby adopted a point of view and take on cherries that was uniquely her own and frankly, very cool, free, loose and fun. I really admire the energy and movement in this print, which I have trouble finding in my own work.

Moving on, in the last few years, I’ve been more focused on ceramics and have given that medium more attention than I have given to painting.  This was because my wonderful mom was suffering from Primary Progressive Aphasia.  Let me explain.  PPA is a horrid, evil form of dementia that devastates its victims by destroying the language center of the brain, robbing them of linguistic communication while they can still think and understand.  My mom could still enjoy and participate in nonverbal activities even though she could no longer express her thoughts and ideas in words.  I should also mention that my mom was a brilliant woman, and among her many interests, she loved art and loved crafts.  In particular, she loved ceramics and throughout their marriage, she and my dad accumulated an impressive collection of pottery.   When my mom got sick, my dad and I searched for activities that might be fun for her that would require no language.  We were lucky enough to find a great studio nearby where she and I could take clay classes together.  The clay studio was like a little island of refuge for my mom, where she could function without language and become absorbed in a meaningful activity.  And with the assistance of our wonderful teacher, Linna, she was able to produce some beautiful, interesting objects. Sadly, my mom's PPA progressed to full blown dementia, and she was no longer able to work in the pottery studio at all.  However, by that time, I was totally hooked and in love with ceramics, so I never stopped going.  

On a whim, I took Abby’s cherry relief matrix to clay class and used it as a mold. I rolled the relief matrix over a slab of porcelain to impress the pattern into it.  I then formed the slab into a little tray. I glazed the tray black and white to be consistent with Abby’s block prints and also added some color to honor the cherries.  I think they are cute, and I am especially intrigued with the idea that they are an artistic collaboration with my daughter! Here is the first one:

And another

And here are some vessels:

I'm enjoying the process of creating different objects with this relief matrix and just love the idea that it’s Abby’s design that I am playing with.  


So, there you are - cherries in clay for Mother's Day; a love of clay - from my mom, to me; cherries from me to Abby back to me and into clay.  I hope my mom is smiling somewhere and has her brilliant brain back so she can understand again - love and miss you mom - love love love you Abby - happy mother's day mom and thank you Abby for making me a mom!