Piece/Peace in Progress

We lost a very special man in our family recently. My favorite Uncle Harry took his life in April 2008. Its been a difficult few months trying to make some sense of it all. I was drawn to what I know best- my art- and it seems my newest work is bringing me peace-peace in progress.

I was lucky to have taken a few photos of my Uncle a couple years back while visiting with family in Alberta- pictures of him with his grandaughter Sage. One of these photos has literally haunted me for the past 2 years . A picture of Sage, her stance- the flow of the dress she was wearing, the tilt of her head......there was something so magical and so angelic about it.

I just knew at one point I would do something with this image.So 2 years later and with Harrys passing, I felt drawn to clay, and to somehow pay tribute to a man I feel honored to have had in my life.The focus will be Sage - with her Grandpa Harry's hands holding her...
forever holding his girl.

Beginning in July- now 9 + months into it I can definitely see progress.... but with still a very long ways to go.

(Updated April 5th, 2010)

Many of you may have begun wondering what has happened to "Peace in Progress",
for there has been zero" progress" these last few months.
Sadly, for the 3rd time, I entered the studio to find her collapsed, broken in half, laying in a
sorrowful heap on my workbench. I literally had to step away from the project .
For the past few months I have found myself consumed by the mosaic medium, and I very much needed to go where I was
being pulled. Not to say that I have given up on the piece- quite the opposite.
A friend recently said that maybe she was never meant to be cast, just maybe it was "the process" that
I needed to go through to heal from my Uncle Harry's death. Perhaps....the process has most definitely helped,
but in my mind ,she is by no means finished. I feel the pull returning, I feel the itch to return to her and the clay.
And the simple reason for her instability - my own fault for lack of a proper armature. New to clay, with a lot to learn,
I do plan to make this next re-make my last. Peace in Progress will be re-newed and re-birthed. Wish me luck .