Personal Timeline #3

Timeline final 

Nineteen years old and caring a narcotic key, what were they thinking?  This is where I pick up as I enter young adulthood. Married to a non-musical man I grew out of my music and found a paint brush. It began with night classes at the local high school. 

A deeply committed four years of marriage before we planned any children.  The children solidified us even more. We undertook a big project to build our own home custom made for three daughters. 

 My husband and I drew up the plans and were the source of labor, with the exception of the bricks, we hired a brick mason. These types of events seem to make us closer as a couple. We remained in this loving house for over thirty years as our little girls grew into young women with families of their own. Everyone on the street knew that this house was built above code with an extra dose of love. It was called Fort Magee, a place for shelter during a bad storm as many considered it their hurricane home. Last week a for sale sign was placed in the front yard of Fort Magee. Before the sun set, we had a contract on the house.  Might you think this would cause jubilation in the seller?  But not so with me, the house represented all stages of human growth and development and was an extension of me.  

During early childhood, I recall my youngest daughter was too small to reach the light switch and had to rely on a step stool. The other two girl’s roller skating on the concrete floors as we moved in before the house was completed. 

Adolescence brought the drama before the mirrors in the bathroom. God help the child that wore her sister’s clothes, but still, the house was steadfast.  It supported us all through our children’s growth into young adults. It supported us when our parents came to visit as we modified Fort Magee to accommodate the tender steps of the elderly. 

 Fort Magee was still resilient when our new baby grandchildren came to visit us.  Now we are the older generation our house of love is still strong as we see our frailties more every day.  The house that we built is like our bodies requiring nurture and care for the sake of permanence.

When comparing the self as building, the similarities are real. “The relationship between architecture and the human body delves deep into why those behaviors manifest in the first place, as it calls upon the experiential characteristics and qualities that spark when the two unite — impacting not only occupant behavior through the body, but also impacting occupants intellectually, emotionally, physiologically and even spiritually through the body as well”(Lehman, 2017).

Reference

Lehman, M. L. (2008, 2017). Examining The Relationship Between Architecture and the Human Body [Maria Lorena Lehman + sensing architecture® |]. Retrieved from http://marialorenalehman.com/post/examining-relationship-architecture-human-body

OLDER ADULTHOOD PROJECT 

May I present my end of life art project as you can see I have allowed plenty of room to work on this for the next 35-40 years.  Many older adults have a bucket list; it is my intention to include this piece as I complete my bucket list on travel interest.

The backing of this piece is composed of many triangular cuts of wood that my husband made for me from his table saw. After staining the wood, I glued the pieces together to form a circle to represent oneness, which has become a lifelong goal for my existence. This is significant as my life is composed of many fragments which eventually fused together from walking through the trails of human development. My life is one piece consisting of many pieces; some joints are glued well, and some are not. This is a representation of my structure during human development which supports me and my art project.  I continue to strive for oneness as an older adult but realize my path may not be completed until I reach the other side. In my life, this is an ongoing process.

In the meantime, my mission for this end of life art project is to fill it with mother earth’s evidence of all my remaining journeys that link me to the cosmos and my God.

Currently, this piece represents two places visited my homeland Florida and my motherland England. The rocks were found on the shores separating England from Scotland and pebbles in the walking path to my ancestor’s great creation of Stone Hedge. 

I am excited about this project, and from this point forward I will limit my mother earth souvenirs to one stone, shell or grain of sand from each location I visit until my piece is finished. At the end of my journey, the art piece will represent all my experiences as an older adult, and I plan to make every second count.

In addition to the above project, I would like to paint the locations visited. The day I viewed Stone Hedge it was cold and misty, the perfect day for a touch of environmental mysticism. My painting below is an attempt to recreate the mood.

                            There will be more to come!