Growing Versions

I started knowing this city at university.  Every other place in the city was over there. Then, for the longest time, all schools were there and I was here . Next the daycare was way over there .  Then it was right here , and now it is back over there. While we were going to preschool it was here  and elementary was over there . Now that school is here and the junior high school is right here too. The high school is not far away, it is right over there .  Where will I be when they are all over there?

Our day starts the same way almost everyday. What day is this? Is it a free day? A gym day? A library day?  I answer. Then, I pack the lunches. In that order.

(Source: Gooselane Editions, 2013) Back when I was a feckless university student, I ended up going one day to an exhibit of Mary Pratt's work at the Art Gallery of NS.  As undomestic as I was back then, her work moved me tremendously and she instantly became one of my favourite artists. She paints, with breathtaking results, objects that you find in any home, often the kitchen. Her images of bowls of jelly, saran wrap covering food and fruit are so realistic it is hard to believe that they are paintings and not photographs.  There is a retrospective exhibit in Halifax right now celebrating her work and recently there was an article on cbc.ca quoting her impressions of her own work. As I read her thoughts, looking back at many of her creations, I really understood where she is coming from.  Time and time again I see in my midst things of beauty. Symbols of where I am today that I feel compelled to capture somehow, albeit it with oceans less talent and skill than Mary ...