Healing

This is a follow up to an earlier post (All Wired Up). I've finally fnished this piece and it ended up being an unexpected journey for me. A seemingly simple piece, it forced me to work slowly because wrapping the telephone wire was at times tedious trying to keep the wire tight, with no spaces. There were moments when it felt like I was carefully bandaging the cracked and weathered wood as I worked, as if I were healing a wounded limb or wing. It took me another month to complete the finishing details after the wire wrapping was done--nothing was "working" before so it sat there incomplete.

During the time I started the piece, my grandma's health was failing and she had to go under hospice care at my aunt's house. Our family gathered daily and we embraced each other and shared stories about my grandma's vibrant life, spending time with her, trying to keep her "here" yet wanting release for her too. Only one month later, she passed away after battling a trio of significant health issues. It was a difficult time, with inner emotional cyclones that would come and go for me, creating a deeply personal, sad, tired path of loss and acceptance. I was so sad to lose her, but also very emotional and worried for my mom and aunt's loss of their mom.

Meanwhile, I would come home and grow more and more grateful for my beautiful son and my hubby, and I would grieve for my other tiny son, I would grieve for my dad and I would pray for the gift of a long and healthy life for everyone. I also kept to the garage for some creative energy. Something that was the opposite of dying. I worked on a few pieces, but this piece still sat there literally in my hands for a moment each night, wrapped like a bandage as I would scan my materials for that perfect something it needed. The wood is beautifully weathered, with marks and scars, and the wire is so smooth and colorful, I did not want to alter the contrast. I found the black, glass beads and made a jingle for the piece and then found another strand and really liked the look of it--like a line of demarcation between the vibrant wire and the exposed wood. That line we have to cross back to into the "living" after a loss, putting trust in our own strength.

As I completed it, the more I experienced it to be a powerfully symbolic process of healing by leaving much of the wood exposed, yet wrapping enough to begin healing—signified by bright, vibrant energy and the colors of life. The reflective, black beads mark the time and individual reflection one needs for deep healing. The signature can lid “jingle” at the bottom of this piece, detailed with a single black, glass bead echoes the power of healing and the lightness that follows.

A great reminder that creating is the journey, art heals ;) 

23” x 7” inches