It all started with Pop Beads and a Kiss
I love this sculpture! Its called "Blowing a Kiss" and throughout history people of many faiths would kiss statues of heroes or saints to acquire blessing and healing. When they weren't able to reach the statue, a kiss would be "blown" from a distance. Today we wave goodbye and blow of a kiss of departing to loved ones as an expression of good wishes and blessings.
Then there is that set of antique POP BEADS that lays gently in her hands. Remember those treasures from the past? Plastic beads from the late 1950’s that snapped together and snapped apart so you could make necklaces and bracelets. They made the most incredible “popping” sound when you pulled them apart, hence the name “Pop Beads". They were created first as novelty jewelry for adults but it didn't take long before they were coveted by little girls, me included. My mother bought me oodles and oodles of them in every color imaginable. I loved to play dress up and I loved jewelry. I would spend hours creating with my string less loops of pop beads given to me by my wonderful Momma.
Last summer, I attended a 4 day conference at Purdue geared towards the art of jewelry design. The last morning of the conference, the guest speaker, Alison Lee, presented "My Life in Code". Never, in my life has a lecture affect me as this one did!!! She talked about the seeds of growth and how our art was planted in us at a young age. Be it gifts we received or from times spent by the side of a creative family member these artistic seeds were what instilled that insatiable desire to create within us.
I was mesmerized by what she was saying and suddenly I became a small child sitting in that huge auditorium listing to her as all of these long forgotten childhood memories came flooding back to me, it was like a gate had opened and allowed me to see what and who had formed me and my artistic desires.
Visions were flowing through my mind, it was like an old film strip had stared rolling in my head! I could see my grandmother Helen sitting on the couch tatting, my grandmother Ethel brewing tea, Frenchie and I sitting at the table coloring for hours, me & my grandfather Julius out in the garage weaving rugs made from strips of worn out old coats, my mother painting designs on the basement floor and on and on it went. Then a barrage of toys given as gifts flew by: weavers, pot holder kits, my first brownie camera and POP BEADS.
So now your asking yourself what does all of this have to do with a strand of pop beads and a statue blowing a kiss!!!! I didn't go to art school, didn't go to college to study art, but from the time I can remember I was always given the tools to form my creative appetite.
I was mesmerized by what she was saying and suddenly I became a small child sitting in that huge auditorium listing to her as all of these long forgotten childhood memories came flooding back to me, it was like a gate had opened and allowed me to see what and who had formed me and my artistic desires.
Visions were flowing through my mind, it was like an old film strip had stared rolling in my head! I could see my grandmother Helen sitting on the couch tatting, my grandmother Ethel brewing tea, Frenchie and I sitting at the table coloring for hours, me & my grandfather Julius out in the garage weaving rugs made from strips of worn out old coats, my mother painting designs on the basement floor and on and on it went. Then a barrage of toys given as gifts flew by: weavers, pot holder kits, my first brownie camera and POP BEADS.
So now your asking yourself what does all of this have to do with a strand of pop beads and a statue blowing a kiss!!!! I didn't go to art school, didn't go to college to study art, but from the time I can remember I was always given the tools to form my creative appetite.
Each day as I sit at my work desk creating jewelry and doing what I love, I look up at those old well worn lacquered plastic POP BEADS lovingly hung from the hands on that statue and I remember who started me on this creative path I've taken and I can feel the kisses blown to me by each and every one of them. I thank my lucky stars and God above that I had a wonderful Momma who showered me with kisses, hugs and toys and I may not be able to reach up and touch her, but I send a blown kiss her way in hopes that it reaches to the heavens and she knows how much I value what she and others instilled in me.
