Art and Love

Two hearts that played on distant shores

Content though they were, they wanted more

These two lines are from a poem that my husband Scott wrote to celebrate our marriage. Titled Pure Love, it tells the story of our long distant love affair that began 22 years ago as a blind date. Printed with letterpress onto handmade paper and framed in a beautiful curly maple molding. All of which Scott hand his hand in; the paper and letterpress and the framing, as well.

From the onset of our relationship, art and other unique hand made gifts crossed the Mainland (Continental US) and the Pacific Ocean to keep us connected in a way that set the stage for our married life together.

Protracted passionate phone calls, well before Skype and mobile phone, along with wonderful letters and gifts sustained us for two years while we dated long distance with Scott in New Jersey and me in Hawaii.  Our first Chanukah/Christmas as husband and wife,  Scott surprised me with Pure Love and I, in turned gave him When I Love You, a linocut on handmade paper with chine collé. Both pieces hang today, on either side of our bed.

We bought our first piece of art together on our honeymoon in Seattle, this drawing by Montana based artist, Theodore Waddell.

Art continues to be how we celebrate and honor each other. Last month we celebrated our 20 year anniversary and once again we gifted each other with art.

I made a small table top sculpture for Scott this summer while at the Marshall Bridge Welding Workshop with Stan Smokler. Scott’s gift, however, knocked it out of the park. The 20 year wedding anniversary symbol is China and after some research, Scott learned that the Mandarin Duck  is depicted in Chinese art in pairs and in Feng Shui, they are a traditional symbol of enduring love, devotion, romance, and fidelity. Scott then found Josephine Tsai, a Chinese brush artist and teacher. They met at her studio in Media, Pennsylvania and he commissioned her to paint a pair of Mandarin Ducks as a gift to me. Then, after seeing her watercolor, ink on Xu’an (rice) paper Scott wrote a poem which she translated into Chinese and delicately painted his words on the mat under her beautiful painting.

and as a line in his Chinese poem reads “The boundless sky and endless earth may pass away, our spirits will dance forever.”