Robert Rauschenberg: A Farewell

Dear Robert Rauschenberg,

I first saw your work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and though I guess it wasn't the most comfortable of work, it was, for me, impressive and it expanded my thinking about art and such.

I saw this piece, "Bed," on the New York Times site today. It is just right.


On the Times site it was described this way. “For his high school graduation present, Mr. Rauschenberg wanted a ready-made shirt, his first. A decade or so later he made history with his own assemblages of scraps and ready-mades: sculptures and music boxes made of packing crates, rocks and rope; and paintings like 'Yoicks' sewn from fabric strips.”

My daughter, who is a quilter would understand this all very well.

We will miss your art and interpretation.

BRD

Quilts

Dear Sapphire Quilt,

For a few years now you have been creating your own works of quilt art. I love everything that you have done, but I especially love the ones I get to wrap up in on chilly nights. (Keep in mind that for me, every night is a chilly night at some point or other.) I wanted to recommend to anyone passing through this blog post that they really should take a look at the quilts on your blog, Sapphire Quilt. I also wanted to post pictures of one of my most treasured possessions, a quilt that hangs not off my shoulders but above my bed. This piece was a loving gift from teachers and students at a school where your Dad worked for a number of years.





As I look at each of these squares I am reminded of stories and people.

Remember the Friday club? Dad would bring boys without fathers to our little old house in the country and show them how to do stuff. Remember when the horse ran off with that one kid? And when I got so mad at them for shooting the head off a doll with a 22 rifle?

Remember that Stop light that Dad put in the 2nd grade classroom. Green meant you could talk, yellow meant whisper, and red meant sssh!

How about the annual squirt gun battle staged by the 6th graders and the mini-marathons? And how about that time they dragged you to the principal's office for saying "Ass-phalt!"

Those were the days, when little Stevie wore teal converse sneakers, and little Diane could curl up in our arms she was so small. And speaking of curls, remember how Anne GG's were so wild and only Carrie Gwilt knew what to do with them. Did you know that she just had a baby! Plus she's a pediatrician or some kind of medical doctor on the side!

Our lives are really like quilts put together from lovely squares of remembrances aren't they? And you Sapphire Quilt are in the center portion of my quilt and one of the most beautiful of all.

I Love You So,

MOM
XOX