Redtree Times

The Forever Bond— Coming to the Principle Gallery

Art is the child of nature in whom we trace the features of the mother’s face.

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It’s Mother’s Day 2022.

For some, aging changes this day. After one’s mother has passed on, it becomes less about celebrating the day and more about revisiting distant memories, trying to recall small nuances of voice and manner before they fade further from memory. A certain smile or laugh or a moment that only the two of you shared.

The events of the past few years, where a pandemic has robbed so many families and children of their mothers makes the day feel even a bit more bittersweet. I have seen how the loss of a mother can stay with a child to the end of their own days.

My mother’s mother, my grandmother, died when my mom was a toddler, just over 18 months old. It changed the course of her life in so many ways and she always seemed on a search to find something about her mother. She walked the small rural cemetery where her mother was buried several times, seeking her final resting place, not knowing that her grave didn’t have a stone marking it.

The year before she died, I took mom to the local Public Records office to obtain her mother’s death certificate. I don’t know what she was looking for on it, what small bit of info it might provide that she didn’t already know. But just having it seemed to fill some sort of need in her. She seemed content just to have it in hand.

The idea that there are literally hundreds of thousands of young children- as well as adult children- who have lost their moms in these past few years saddens me. I hope they don’t go through life with that same void that I know existed in my mom.

So, on this day, celebrate your moms and all that they have given you.

The painting at the top is new and part of my upcoming solo show at the Principle Gallery, opening June 3. The title of this 10″ by 20″ painting is The Forever Bond. It is part of a long running series of paintings based on the Baucis and Philemon myth but it also seems to fit the tenor of this day.

I am pairing it with this week’s Sunday Morning Music selection, Mother and Child Reunion from Paul Simon.