Portrait in Sand and Earth

Laura Snyder Smith photos

I guess it is both a pajama and a writing day today. What is on my mind now is this amazing art exhibit my husband and I were invited to (thank you, Roseanne!) last week at the George Marshall Store Gallery in York, Maine. The gallery is located on the York River, next to a building identified as one John Hancock, yes THE John Hancock, owned many years ago. The building has had several lives and is currently home to art. We entered through the back door, on the riverside and I was...not so impressed. We walked up a narrow set of steps and then entered a larger room. Hmmmm....local wine and appetizers....nice after a long work day. We greeted our hosts. Mary, the curator, was a lovely woman. The new owner of Sotheby's was very friendly and we are always happy to see our real estate agent, Roseanne. Greetings and food in place, I started to wander around. I found my way into a back room where science tubes had been hung up in rows all around the room...100 of them. "Looks like a science experiement," I told my husband. As I was about to leave, disinterested, I looked closer. Underneath each vile of sand, shells, rocks, dirt was a journal entry. The local artist, Lauren Gillette, had created her life, an autobiography of her life, using earth materials in science tubes. I was amazed. Under the black sand from Hawaii was the journal entry, "From our trip to Hawaii.....". And I remembered when my brother and I walked the black sand beaches of Hawaii. Under the reddish dirt/sand from China, "My father-in-law's home that we visited......." And then I was amazed, engrossed and had so much fun! Clever, novel.....what I love most about art!