evolution of a piece
As I sit in my living room listening to Ani DiFranco, who embodies raw honesty- I am visually pulled towards a piece of art that embodies just that.
My mom was taking art lessons with the incredible artist Nancy Rosen before she got sick.
She would tell you that she never saw herself as an artist. She really struggled with the notion of trusting her intuition and the worth of sharing her own voice.
I first met Nancy in July 2012 when I had the opportunity to accompany my mom to one of Nancy’s classes at her Chicago studio. It was filled with artwork, paint, and art supplies. Raw authenticity everywhere.
Fast forward a year- my mom asked me to bring her paper and a pencil. She always sketched first. Always. Making space to make mistakes and permission to change.
You can see the sketch- [2] it’s light, but you can see the mother and child’s head. I didn’t know it then, but it would be the last piece of art she ever made.
She sketched the cover of a book a friend gave me, entitled “Mothers” [3]
The image was from a Gustav Klimt painting entitled “Mother and Child.”
A few days later, when my mom got really sick, Nancy and the class agreed to come out to the house and set up outside her window so she could still be a part of it. [4]
In the next couple of weeks, I asked Nancy if she could come to paint the same piece in front of my mom as she was now bedridden.
The day we scheduled it was the day my mom passed.
Nancy said she still wanted to paint it and several weeks later, I went to pick it up from her studio. [1]
When I saw it, I almost fell to my knees...I had never taken the time, amidst my mom’s sickness, to research the piece from Klimt- but what they showed on my book cover was just a portion of the piece.
The entire piece included 3 figures. Two women and a child. I see a woman in a coffin with her hand over her eyes and a mother and child.
I’m grateful to a mother who encouraged art and expression. I’m grateful for an artist who gave my mom space to find her voice and show the evolution of her spirit. Forever reminders.
Take the class.
Share your voice.
Be authentic.
1.15.21
