11/8/2021 0 Comments Del - A Wondrous Wood-CarverThe last week of October, 2021, Catherine and I flew to Oregon to visit our daughter, Liz. We had not seen her, in person, since before the beginning of Covid, more than 18 months ago. On our many visits with Liz over the years, we have learned to put ourselves in her hands as she invites us to many wonderful new experiences. Liz has a flair for creating simple yet very meaningful encounters. On this trip, she introduced us to her friends, house mates, business partners and clients, and each event was poignant. I would like to share one of them. Del is a self-described Blind, Black, British wood carver. www.delfineartist.com. For the last two years, Liz has been Del’s business advisor. For the past nine years, Liz has worked for a non-profit in Portland, Livelihood NW, that serves historically and currently underserved business owners, often women or People of Color. A Piece of The Pie
On a quiet Sunday morning, Liz, Catherine and I drove to the Portland Central Library https://multcolib.org/sites/default/files/MCL-Central.jpg that serves the Multinomah County Library system. The building itself is a very imposing Georgian, three-story edifice built in 1913 that has been artistically maintained with a beautiful marble interior. Walking up the impressive exterior stairs to enter the library gave me the feeling that we were headed toward something intriguing, but I had almost no idea what that might be. Liz generally does not over-explain so that we can have our own experience. She simply told us that Del is a Black artist and activist who would be presenting an interactive sculpture that he had made. When we entered the library, Del was standing at the base of an interior grand staircase leading to the upper floors. He was surrounded by three people who had helped him with his project as well as a videographer. Del’s sculpture was a round table, two inches thick, made of black walnut and what appeared to be an “arm” or pointer of some sort on top. I was close enough to read the words “A Piece of the Pie” carved on the circumference of the sculpture, but could not make out the words on top. Del looked to be about 60 years old, stood comfortably straight and began his short introduction. He had a really nice way about him, a mixture of sincerity, humor and intensity. Other than his knitted orange beanie, everything he wore was black including his Covid mask. I could see his deep brown, wide-open eyes. He told us that his “eyes” sometimes caused him trouble because some people did not believe he was blind. He had developed the ability (he was sighted when younger) to turn his head and listen carefully to the person speaking to him, giving the impression that he is “looking” at them. He laughed and showed us his dark sun glasses that he brings with him so that he “looks blind” if necessary. The irony was really funny. Del explained in detail how he had spent the last two years creating this sculpture. He described the sculpture top as a “pizza pie” where he had carved in 12 words (one on each slice) that were very important to him as a black man. Some of the words were king, queen, happiness, inclusion, education, career, justice, love and community. I connected to all the words except king and queen but thought this was an important part of his heritage as a black man. The “arm”, with an androgenous African-looking carving on the pointer end, could be spun around and land on one of the words. There was also braille below each word created by nails that Del had carefully selected so that they were both decorative and functional. Every aspect and detail of the sculpture was exquisitely done including the carving, the sanding and the pointer. The sculpture was supported by three legs also made of black walnut; each leg beautifully tapered into eight sides. Just that alone and the love and care he had poured into it would have probably been enough, but there was way more. Del invited anyone of our little group of now ten people to come up and spin the arm, see where it landed and share their experience. The first woman who walked up to spin was blind herself with a cane and a lovely little dog. She was deeply touched by the whole experience. It was clear that she and Del had a shared experience that went far beyond what I could grasp. Catherine’s spin landed on “inclusion” and the focus of her work is the “web of life”, so she shared a bit about that. Liz landed on “community”, a very important theme in her life. When my turn came, I really wanted to touch the sculpture. I got on my knees so I could feel the legs. The sanding was perfect. I have done a bit of sanding myself and could appreciate the time and care that it took to sand the black walnut. Catherine asked Del how he knew which way the grain flowed without seeing it. Del explained that when he started the wood was rough so he could feel the grain. My word was “happiness” and I shared that I was indeed a happy and lucky guy. Being part of a long and fulfilling marriage with Catherine, having Liz as a daughter, living on a little farm with lots of critters– well – who could help but feel happy. Del told me that if I could see behind his mask, I would see a big smile. Again, this would have been quite enough for a one-hour communal experience, but there was one more surprise. A woman appearing to be in her sixties had joined near the end of the presentation to see what was going on. She spun the wheel and it also came up “happiness”. She said she was celebrating her 80th birthday, had come from Florida, and was involved with libraries all her life so she had simply dropped in. What a perfect ending as Del and a few helpers carefully wrapped the sculpture in a soft blanket. It struck me that Del’s presentation of his art piece that was meant to both create both an individual and shared community experience, really did just that. Quite beautiful indeed!
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David FeldmanDog walker, Dog Mediator, Father, Husband, Categories |