When people ask me what kind of work that I do, I have a long list, including saying that I am a collaborative Artist. So much of the work that I do is in collaboration with other people, and even when it might seem like I'm doing something on my own on the surface, I believe in giving credit where it is due and letting people know that I was inspired by someone, or helped by someone, or that someone's kindness or generosity or mentorship was the thing that made something I was doing possible.
Early last week when I was walking by Fiore's in Hoboken, I saw something in their back parking lot that looked like it was being thrown away. It was a big, round metal object with what looked like legs that could be table legs on it, though I knew that it wasn't a table. But because of the way I was looking at it, I thought it could make a really great table, and I thought I'd check in with them when they were open if it was still there to see if it was something they wouldn't mind me using as a table at YES Gallery.
The next day as I walked by it was still there, and so I walked in and asked about it. They're all so nice there and the lovely woman I asked went to ask the man who is in charge of everything, and he said that it was the old burner for a stove where they cooked the mozzarella, and he had been thinking of waiting to see if the scrap metal collectors wanted it. I told him that I was thinking of making a table out of it, but that I didn't want to take it away if it was something that could make them or someone else some money, and he said to go ahead and take it. The lovely woman who had asked him took me back out side to see how heavy it was, and she picked it up easily but said it was a bit heavy for her. I'm pretty strong, but she's much stronger than I am, because when I picked it up I didn't know how far I could carry it. The gallery is only two blocks away, or rather a block and two half blocks which is really a very short distance, and so I put on a pair of gloves I have in my bag just in case I need to carry something that's a bit difficult, and I walked on my way, stopping every time I needed to and shifting and taking breaks until I was able to get it back to the gallery.
It was a miracle in itself that I was able to carry it at all because it is really a very big heavy piece of steel with many different parts, and it was also a lovely miracle of a blessing that they let me have it and I was able to get it back to YES Gallery. When I got it inside I gave it a wipe down with a damp cloth, brushed the grit and dirt and some of the more easily removable rust from it and it looked absolutely fantastic. I would have left it just like that except that I did want to make it more functional as a table and the grate on top has very wide open spaces, so I started thinking about what I could use that I already had that could cover over the gate without hiding the wonderful layers and textures and designs of the sections and pieces of the burner beneath it.
When I got home and started looking at things, I began to get some ideas. I always thank God for anything good that I do and anything good in me when people give me compliments of any kind, and when it comes to creatively, I know that it's the Creator of all things who gives me any of the good ideas that I have and makes them possible to become reality. I wasn't really sure how the ideas were going to work, but I just put together the things that I was feeling I needed to bring to the gallery, and when I got there, everything started to fall into place and make sense. A beautiful vintage dim sum serving tray that I found years ago at a favorite thrift store fit as if it was made for the area of the burner underneath where the flames would have come out of when it was still part of a stove, and a piece of glass that I'd found a few weeks ago about a block from the gallery fit the top the way I would have wanted a glass top to fit. Looking at the new table it seemed to be exactly where it needed to be in the gallery, as a coffee table in front of a vintage couch in front of the window.
This table gives me so much joy, and though I could say that I made it all by myself, I know that's not true. It took Fiore's being the wonderful people who they are and the wonderful people at the thrift store where I found that beautiful vintage dim sum serving platter, and the beautiful space to put it in that is possible because of other beautiful and wonderful people. When we remember all the beautiful people who help our dreams and visions come true, we start to see God in the every day, working through and with all of us.
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