Dear Friends,
We are grieving yet also wish to celebrate Erica's beautiful
life with ART! Ever so often, we become completely immersed
in art from a native, indigenous culture and it reflects in
our own drawings.
We love Australian Aboriginal Paintings, both the dot paintings
and newer interpretations of their Dreamtime Mysticism.
We also adore Inuit Art from Cape Dorset, the longest running
printing studio in Canada.
We liked something else, too, but we forgot...
And now we are discovering the healing power of Molas.
Funny how mom discovered one at our local Thrift Shop
the day after finding this image online and there,
high up on their wall, was an authentic, hand-sewn mola
professionally framed selling for a handful of beans!
They were closed that day but mom kept peering at it through
their locked door...long story short, it is now hanging on
OUR wall and we are loving it!
Oh, African Art! That's what we forgot to mention.
And African Music. Mom's friendship with some Maasai warriors
who worked at Woodland Park Zoo inspired exploration into
African Art, and the animals were right there!
Mom enjoys art as therapy. Thinking of who she is drawing for
and the people who developed the style that inspires gives us
a feeling of connectedness with people and cultures we will never
visit in person. Yet, the connection is visceral, palpable, and
we feel in the presence of elders in their villages joining us
as we draw.
And find it healing our broken hearts with color and the stunning
remembrance that Life is Beautiful and the Circle of Love can never
be broken...like silken thread, so delicate, yet tenaciously strong
in its delicacy.
We wish you all good night. Thank you for so many loving emails and
condolenscences...you remind us that friendship heals, too!
