and another…

"F" table, 18x 35.5x 35.5, made with reclaimed materials

Christine and I were invited to participate in an exhibition called A is for… which opens in June at COCA (Center of Creative Arts), and we turned in our art work this weekend.  It is a group exhibition featuring 26 artists who have been influenced in one way or another by their children.  Each artist chose or was assigned a letter of the alphabet–we chose F and S because they are our daughter’s initials.  In this way the exhibition will end up presenting the entire alphabet.  A catalog is being produced, and the work will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for COCA.

After working my way through several designs, I settled on this low table.  On the top, the F is created out of the mosaic of reclaimed painting palettes.  Each leg is an F as well, made from yellow pine reclaimed from a shipping pallet.  The pun is both convenient and meaningful.  Palettes are a great symbol of ultimate potential, and function as a testing ground for the ideas of a painting.  Pallets are facilitators, a means of transport and protection while moving from one point to another.  In addition, Florence makes most of her own artwork at a low table like this one– a steady stream of drawings, collages, cut-outs, books, poems, and works which defy categorization.  So I see these ideas at work in my relationship with my daughter as I try to help her discover her own potential and as I try to launch her gently into her own experience of the world.