April 18, 2004
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THINGS THAT REFRESH MY SOULHands
These are the hands of my aunt Marjorie who lived to be 98 and was still creating collages (that were sold by her gallery for over $1000 apiece) out of rice paper. (You can see some of them here.) She began to do art when she had retired from a lifetime of teaching as a way to find relief from headaches. It opened a whole new world for her. Her hands were still busy till the day she died releasing her imagination for everyone to see. Hands symbolize so many things – creativity, strength, love, cruelty, hard work. Hands give us music. Hands built our homes. Hands delivered our babies. Hands pray for us. And who does not know the comfort of a hand gently touching us in a time of grief. May you find good use for your hands today.
Deep Thoughts: Most of the time it was probably real bad being stuck down in a dungeon. But some days, when there was a bad storm outside, you’d look out your little window and think, “Boy, I’m glad I’m not out in that.”
Today I am grateful for: All Five Senses
Comments (7)
Wow. Her work is beautiful. I really like “Long Time, No See.”
What a wonderful tribute! I think you may resemble her a little. I like the Yellow River collage.
Wow, very powerful statement. That is so true about hands. What would we do without them?
I really liked today’s deep thought.
Wow – you do look a lot like her…
These collages are really good – They have amazing texture and depth. I haven’t seen works of this caliber in this medium. My favorite is the one right on the front page (but there’s no title listed) I am glad to have seen them. Thank you.
Nice blog and a very meaningful picture. I love it when people keep going for it. One of my heros was a Dutch lady named Corrie Ten Boom who after spending time in a Nazi concentration camp for hiding Jewish people tromped all over the world telling her story. I saw her when she was in her 80′s and determined that I would be like that…keep growing so that I had something to give out when I’m 80.
Without hands, my watch would keep falling off…
Seriously, a great and loving tribute…
This is a lovely entry. Your aunt was very talented.She really knew how to use colors for maximum emotional impact. Her work seems to draw out strong reactions, at least they do in me, so I imagine others have the same response. Thanks for letting us see her collages.