20 | March/April 2017
at 2 o'clock and work until 6 o'clock,
it's fine; nobody is bothered by that."
Nor is she disturbed when she is deep
in the practice of piecing her work
together. "I think that is so critical. I'm
never stimulated to come out of the
place I'm in when I'm trying to create
something."
And the noises of the outside
world—a train whistle or jazz music
from the wine café— are wonderful.
"My activities that are my passion can
be very solitary, so it's wonderful to
have someone backfiring or a siren or
children jumping around. It's all so
very much life-y. e noise, it keeps me
anchored."
Within her lo, there is a sense of
reverence. "A lot of prayer has come
through because I really wanted
this space. I'm thankful to be in it."
Getting an historic building up to
code comes with certain requirements
and regulations. She's remediated
asbestos, dealt with broken appliances
and washed the walls with four layers
of clear lead-abatement product. e
heart pine floors, she kept. "ey
looked like brown yuck when I first
came in," but she scratched away the
dirt. Her father was in the lumber
business. He had taught her well.
Dear friends like Lisa Morphew, Jess
Morphew, Cordell Evans, Bishop
Hairston and the inspiration of
Carolyn P. Dedeaux have helped
immensely along the way.
"I'm so happy to have a space of my
own. And to pull together the things
of my life that mean so much to me. I
wish it for everybody. If someone said,
'Here's this Picasso you can have,' I'd
say, 'Well, maybe, or maybe not.'"
At night, the lit-winged elm sprayed
white reflects through the triptych
window that looks out onto Hay Street
and the trees outside, a light to the
night—the muse is at work.
CV
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