Parts of Art

 After weeks of rain followed by days of intense heat and humidity, plus a lot of weeding, watering, and some random doses of Miracle Gro, we have finally arrived at the WHOLE POINT OF SUMMER. Drum roll please!! Here’s the latest harvest from my salsa garden       And here’s what to do with the goods:  Take some juicy ripe tomatoes and chop them up. Add chopped cilantro, garlic, onion, jalepeno pepper, juice from 1/2 a lemon, a bit of olive oil, a sprinkle of sugar, some salt. (Don’t expect me to tell you exact measurements. I’m not a food blog after all.) Now throw it all in a processor and give it a quick whirl.   Now, enjoy the WHOLE POINT OF SUMMER. Is your mouth watering yet in anticipation?

       Once I spent a delightful afternoon visiting galleries in Asheville North Carolina. At one boutique gallery the owner told me about an artist whose whimsical sculptures I was enjoying. He said,  “She is an artist in her 80’s who has brought us her sculptures for several years. Her process is quite physical and labor intensive, requiring the help of younger assistants to lift the pieces in and out of the kiln and transport them to the gallery.”       When 2008 came along and its subsequent quashing of disposable income, she no longer could afford to pay her assistants. So what did she do? I don’t know, but somehow she figured out a way to continue to produce her work and bring it to the gallery. In fact, he told me with a smile, all she talks about when she brings in new work is “What she’s building next” and what her future pieces will be like. This woman is obviously persisting in spite of of her age, circumstances, the economy, or anything else that can potentially cause art