Scissors
December 24, 2013, 1:12 pm
My grandmother gave me her elegant little scissors when I was about twelve years old. Any gift from her was significant as she had so little to give. Everything in her house was old, sparse or well worn.
I visited my grandmother Sunday afternoons. And when we weren’t playing cards, I would do art projects on the round dining room table.
My German grandmother did not believe in idle hands. Her sentences often began with the words, “Now we’ll just get to work…”. She knew what she was doing when she let me take the scissors home.
When I went to college, my precious scissors went with me. Sometimes friends in my art classes would ask to borrow it. I would always let them, but with a silent plea in my heart for its safe return. By some miracle, my scissors always came back to me.
I did not teach art until our children went off to kindergarten. Instead, I did free lance art with my scissors at home. I turned out posters and greeting cards with hand cut paper letters and paper sculpture. Abbey Press and Conception Press started buying my free lance designs and continued doing so for the next thirty years.
When asked what kind of art I do, I usually reply, “The kind of art that gets thrown away”. Graphic design isn’t like painting or sculpture; it usually has a short shelf life, thus keeping the artist’s ego in check.
I realized the other day that my very special scissors has had its one hundredth birthday. But it and I are ready for more art projects. Here is what we do when we get together.
5 Comments for this entry
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Greetings and welcome...
The Suitcase Lady Blog is now in its fourteenth year. I am obviously a believer in these words from E. B. White. "We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry." Thank you for reading the writing that I delight in doing.
Posts
December 24th, 2013 on 3:45 PM
Your art work is lovely. I still have some of your Abbey Press projects. Merry Christmas to you and Russ.
December 24th, 2013 on 3:57 PM
Your art is now classic! I hope you, Russ, and the rest of your family have a wonderful holiday season!
December 24th, 2013 on 4:04 PM
Matisse would be proud of you! Gorgeous work :)
December 25th, 2013 on 8:18 AM
I’ll be taking an art-journalism seminar from Jessica Wesolek in Santa Fe (www.wisdomwoman.com/whatever/) this fall, and will be doing her online course come January. Consider taking your art in this direction. Think of what you could do with cats!
January 7th, 2014 on 4:21 PM
Superb! A true heirloom that’s not silver or crystal.