" Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing." -Salvador Dali
The above is a portion of a ceramic relief piece I did quite a few years ago. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at the home of a dear departed friend, Paula Schaefer, a woman who was an incredible inspiration to me in many ways. Some of you may remember last year at this time, I wrote about the death of her husband, Chic.
Their children have sold their home and are in the process of going through everything and cleaning things out. They told me I could come and choose a ceramic piece and some other things. I was thrilled to be able to take a piece of her spirit home with me and was very glad to have the chance to look around the house one last time.
I found that Dali quote to be especially meaningful at this time. I see and hear a lot about people imitating one another in the arts, mostly in the negative and I have to say that I don't feel that way at all.
Not only was Paula an amazing artist and inspirational in every way artistically, especially working in clay (BOY DID I EVER TRY SOME OF HER TECHNIQUES....I LOVED HER WORK),
but she was a woman with an impeccable style. Classy doesn't even scratch the surface. Cook, designer, business woman, great sense of humor, compassionate and YES.....I wanted to "imitate" her.
I photographed some things at the house that were especially "Paulesque" to me and will remember them , her and Chic with love and gratitude.
Bench on the front porch.
The curve of the , oh so beautiful sofa.
The serving cart with the bicycle wheels.
...ohhhh, that fabulous lamp.
The table and chairs where we ate some wonderful meals.
Some of Paula's pieces.
A still life of beautiful objects everywhere.
Things left in an empty studio. The energy is still present.
Some of the items I chose. The clay piece and ......for all of you who know my old brush "fetish", a beautiful used brush. Think of all of the small leftover , lovely scraps that were whisked away with that .Imitate away, my friends.
