Sometimes, in my Gabriel Garcia Marquez mode, I think my life with Maria is like living with an Orchid, watching an exotic and creative flower grow and blossom. I love to watch and wait, and see what she creates, over there in her Studio Barn. A couple of years ago, she was afraid to go over there, thinking all she would make is garbage. Now, you don’t want to be standing in front of the door if she is on the way to work, or you’ll end up on your butt.
A few weeks ago, a small and foolish man e-mailed me that Maria wasn’t really an artist, she was just riding in my wake, and I was so intrigued to see that he almost immediately and profusely apologized, when I answered him and urged him not to live a small life and say cruel and stupid things. People like that almost never recant their cruelties – in our time, people don’t change their minds, they just talk to like-minded bloggers or their friends on Facebook. I think it is a shining point of light when they do change their minds, a victory for the human spirit, and it is so rare. When did you last hear a politician say they were wrong, or had changed their mind? Small lives, small minds. I change my mind hourly, and am proud of it.
Maria and I have spend some time facing our demons, seeking larger lives, learning to trust our guts and we have done this together, and so I was dazzled and benumbed when she called me over to the Studio Barn yesterday and showed me her latest work, a departure for sure, an evolutionary step, another blooming of the Orchid, a big step to a Big Life. This is not a potholder,not a quilt, not a streaming piece. This is something very new She got the idea for this new kind of art in Madison, talking to writer Susan Campbell Bartoletti, one of the Zolotow award winners. Funny how it works. This new piece is not yet for sale, but up on her website. She scooped me this time.
It is a radical departure for Maria, a big step and I love it, whatever it is, and whatever she decides to call it. New use of light, fabric, color and language. Move With Heart. Shine Your Sun. Trust Your Gut.
Okay.
And do it with style and color and affirmation.
One day I think I might switch careers and just watch an Orchid Grow.
