POCKETS FULL OF SHELLS

One of last things my mother said to me before she died in April of 2001 was to "Notice the little things Toni." I rolled those words around in my head as I took long nature walks everyday that Spring, Summer, and Fall. I gathered pockets full of shells, leaves, stones, and twigs - not knowing at the time what I might do with them. I had no desire to paint - the actual distance between the brush and the canvass felt cavernous - too far removed from the urge I had to actually get my hands into the materials. One day, out of the blue, I decided to reproduce some birch bark I had collected - just to see if I could do it. That led to an entire series of sculptures I called my "nature studies." I "noticed the little things" - those pockets full of nature I had been collecting would be the "models" for sculptures. Those fallow three seasons marked the downtime I needed to gather the seeds for the next couple years of work.

The making of "Mussel Shells and Sea Glass."

I sculpted hundreds of mussel shell "blanks."

I painted hundreds of mussel shell blanks; it was repetitive, methodical, and required attention to detail - just what I needed to occupy my eyes, hands, and brain while working through the grief around my mother. I thought of myself as one of those prisoners who sculpt entire miniature villages out of countless tooth picks or popsicle sticks - because they have nothing but time on their hands, and creativity as their escape.

Here's the end result. It measures 1'x6'.

And here's a close-up of "the little things."