travel day to IAPS, day one things that influence my art

Monday night Randy came in and said we were leaving at 8am on tuesday. I about cried. Been working toward this for weeks, and was on schedule (mine). Framing for 2 juried shows done, 2 delivered to Tim for delivery to Ft. Smith, 1 ready for packaging to travel with us...

Inroads made in getting 'stuff' from the move and garage upstairs and out of sight so niece Jessie could come housesit the hairy kids...laundry done, folded and put away so we could pack...art supplies readied for loading in the car (that before clothes)...and found a couple hours to paint on my Deborah Paris online art class. Timetable was to pack clothes on tues am. Well, Randy realized he hadn't told me about HIS plan, and that was a big issue...

Anyway, this am was smooth, and we left around noon. He volunteered to drive to Bella Vista (30 min) to pick up my fav purple rain jacket...and then I asked him to stop by our local community college to pick up a 6x9" masterson palette. It was perfect for travel, with disposable paper palettes cut to size. I had a grand plan to do color swatches with Paris' oil colors as we travelled.

Nope. Brain refused to work. I sat without books, paints, computer for 9 hours. Just sat and took 110 pictures out the windows, trying to capture the sky and good trees for reference.

Along the way, Randy said he had always wanted to stop at the Oklahoma City National Memorial of the bombing in 1995 of the Murrah building (I think that was the name). Of course, I'm on task, he is not. I'm like a homing pigeon pointed at my destination of Albuquerque/Santa Fe. Didnt' think about it much. Garmin GPS is wonderful...we have a builtin in the car, but the garmin took us right to the memorial.

Whoa. This is major. We pay to go through the memorial presentation with audio of a government meeting for 2 minutes before the explosion...and the resulting chaos. Then doors open and you leave a darkened room to see a VIDEO of the first TV telecast around 9:30am the day. Continue wandering through the 'stations' and see snippets of personal effects immortalized in display cases...shoes, keys, jewelry, photos, file folders. Many photos and displays. THEN you go to the 2nd floor and see more.

Start with a room with a presentation box of a photo of each victim, pertinent into, and a few memorabilia from family. Funeral music plays. I ran. Can't do too much of that.

On to the evidence...the chase...the trials...the legal stuff. Along with evidencial parts like the truck axle and parts. Awe inspiring. Much silence in groups of observers.

Another floor of stuff to balance things like the community spirit, the fence where nice things were left , the coming together of grief...and you exit to the gardens. So peaceful. Beautiful. perfect grass that looks like astroturf...then the reflecting pool (I had to verify that the granite actually had a curved edge and that you could 'walk on water'). It is a huge expanse that is a garden water feature...1/2" of water floating on the surface of this granite with sounds of water dripping as it recycles over an edge to infinity.

The sculpture chairs reflect in the water...one for each victim (large for adult, small for children) and encompass the exact footprint of the destroyed building. Each bronze chair sits on an etched base that at night is eluminated (sic, lit up) so that the chairs appear to be floating.

We get back in the car. Randy has lint in his eyes wondering at the evil that can make someone do such an act. I answer with the thought that 'what was positive about the event? We know that nothing happens by accident...what good, awareness, change, our slapped out of alice in wonderland experience...did these people die for? '

I refuse to participate in woe is me thoughts and the world is coming to an end. Perhaps hell is here on earth for people like Timothy McVeigh...perhaps bad things really happen to good people who are involved in the veil being lifted so we can begin to 'see'.

The 'Survivor Tree' a 200+ American Elm just feet from the blast. Carefully nurtured. Today a high school orchestra was playing some beautiful music that wafted over the memorial site.

These types of events eventually show up in an artists' expressions. Normal People with Normal Lives have no reference to the bad things that can happen...you just hope you 'don't get any on you' and that your family will be spared. 

Support your local artists. They are the ones with vision beyond a rendition of a photo of a flower. Some art is disturbing...listen...watch...feel...

Then we moved on to Amarillo. Slideshow of my entertainment with camera and trees.