May 12, 2012

Artist of the Week

My artist of the week is my mom. You won't find any of her fabulous creations on the internet or in a gallery or store anywhere. In fact, most of the beautiful paper dolls, fashion designs and oil paintings, she created no longer exist due to a terrible flood in our family home basement some twenty odd years ago. That doesn't mean they don't exist in my memories. When my mom (mom #1) passed away when I was in my twenties, I had hoped to maintain and pass on her hand drawn paper dolls and their divine wardrobe (also designed and drawn by mom) to my daughter. Not being artistically inclined in the visual art realm, I can only describe them to my daughter. I pass on to her my love for movement and creativity. The drawing and painting moved through me to my sons and there it manifests itself. My daughter and youngest son - dance, the middle two children - draw. Thank you, Mimi!

My mom, known as Mimi, to her three daughters, was Margaret Ann Latten. She was an only child and was raised in Austin, Texas. When she went to college at Talledega College in Alabama, she met my dad. She graduated and they moved first to New York City (and created my older sister and I) and then to Detroit (where the last daughter was created). She worked for the Civil Rights Commission until her late diagnosed Lupus forced her into an early retirement. She was a wonderful mother, with all the ups and downs that went with it. She shaped most of the way I view the world and how I raise my own brood. She was the first one to show me that nothing you want to do is impossible if you work with perseverance to get it. She built bookcases and sewed prom dresses from newspaper patterns. She wore all her mom hats well and I only hope that as I travel on this path, that I wear my 'hats' just as well. Thank you, Mimi!

I found this adorable book at the local library this past week and just had to check it out. I wondered if these 31 uses included any of the uses my children have for their mom. You know, those "mom hats". The very first use in the book is TIME accompanied by a delightful drawing of a mom standing at the door, waiting for her child to leave on the school bus.

The uses go on to include such time honored classics as #6 Doctor, #27 Bank, #28 Tweezer, and #18 Party Planner. It doesn't include some of my all time "faves". I could continue the list by adding:

#32 Personal Groomer (really you put those pants with that shirt?)

#32 Laundress (I just washed those, can you just put them away?)

#34 Homework Assistant (I haven't done algebraic expressions in twenty years, I don't know the answer!)

#35 Life Coach (maybe she just isn't the one for you right now, how about an ice cream cone?)

What would you add to the list?

Happy Mother's Day!!!