Empathy in the Craft
- vejay25
- Jul 21, 2022
- 3 min read
I never thought that empathy would be woven into my craft...It is.
In 2013, my husband, Al, was hit with several unfortunate health crises that propelled our lives into the kind of uncertainty that we'd never known before. From the very beginning of our lives together as husband and wife, we'd been the kind of partners and parents who took care of ourselves, our family and our personal and financial business. We built a home for our children, put them in good schools and supported them in every way that we could. We considered ourselves as fortunate. But unfortunately for us, in 2013 our fortune started to shift in another direction.
When Al and I first moved to Lafayette in 2015 to be near and receive needed support from our daughter, Al was very ill and still in the recovery stages from surgery of prostate cancer and was also dealing with the diagnosis of yet another condition. We had one income, which was my monthly Social Security income, and we were at one of the lowest points in our lives together. We needed help. And we found that help when we met Linda, who was the realtor who trusted us enough to rent affordable housing to us on our promise that we would never be late with our monthly rental payments. After hearing our story, she did the thing we hoped for, but did not expect...she showed us Empathy.
Linda rented to us the only property that her company handled that was affordable enough for our income. It was very small and not the most comfortable abode, but it was just what we needed at that time...a place to be still in, to heal and think about how we would move forward. And as our financial position improved, we were shown rental properties that were larger and much more suitable for our comfort. Linda didn't have to trust us, because she didn't know very much about us. The only thing she knew about us was that our income level was below average and all we could offer her was our word that we were honest people of good character. She trusted us - trusted us to be what we said we were, and what any property owner who rents a property for occupation wants...Good Tenants.
Early in our interactions with Linda, I told her about my craft, that I was a gallery artist and showed her some images of my early works. She asked me if I could create a vessel using a piece of clothing, and I told her I could. She told me that she had only one piece of clothing that belonged to her deceased son and asked if I would consider creating a memorial vessel using it. I told her I'd be honored to do so...that was in 2015. I had no idea that it would take 5 years before Linda would be able to let go of that piece of clothing – a jacket. It was in March of 2020, during the early Covid period when the country was on lockdown when she finally hung the jacket on our front doorknob and called me to tell me it was there. She told me it was really difficult for her to give it over to me - to let it go...I understood.
So, now it was my turn to enact Empathy. I had to pour all of my concentration and heart into what that jacket meant to Linda. The challenge was to create a visual connection for Linda so that each time she looked at the vessel, she would see a beautiful reminder of her son, Michael. I also decided to meet that challenge with a story, a booklet (I've posted the pages for you to read) – a pictorial reminder of the creation process, and an added Keepsake...I wanted to amplify Empathy!
Loving your blog so much. The pieces are lovely very reminiscent of the pieces you created for Micheal and I. They have endured we've moved them across state and they are as lasting and beautiful, durable as when they were first given to us. It's ashamed that these pieces aren't available everywhere and that more people have them. We're lifelong fans and I can't wait to see what you're creating next. It's Chyrel Love you Vera!!!!