Delicate Pieces Story

Sometimes life can change with the flip of a switch, literally, and that’s what happened to me.

Saturday, January 7, 2023, I was flipping off the switch for our garbage disposal when I heard a terrible POP, and felt a horrendous pain in my right shoulder. I stumbled into the living room where my husband was reading, and told him something happened to my arm. I nearly passed out, twice.

We immediately set off for Urgent Care, where thankfully, the wait wasn’t long.

Of all the medical staff I have seen with my shoulder, the doctor at Urgent Care was by far the most caring. He was able to get my shoulder back in place, which produced another loud pop. I had x-rays, and nothing too terrible was shown on them. I was sent home with an ice pack and a sling to wear for five days.

Over the next couple of months, the shoulder dislocated a few more times, but now I knew what to do to get it back in myself.

Finally, at the end of February, I gave in and made an appointment with the Orthopedic doctor. At the end of March, I had my appointment. He yanked on my arm, scheduled an MRI with dye, and told me to schedule a return appointment after the MRI.

At this point, I had not been painting or photographing since the trauma occurred. Knowing the MRI was coming, and that there wasn’t too much damage I could do to my shoulder, I began to paint again.

I began with how I was feeling, not a usual route for me. The word that immediately popped into my head was Delicate. I wanted to explore the feeling of being Delicate. Thin translucent layers, delicate materials, emotive words.

An old unresolved 18” X 18” wood panel had been sitting on my studio shelf since the fall of 2022, I took it down and began to cover the old me with a new delicate me.

Reaching to the top of the 18” panel, at that point, was difficult. I decided to paint on sheets of deli paper, then I would find the sections that spoke to me and collage them together on the panel.

I followed the words from a poem about “delicate bunny ears”, and somewhere under all those layers is an adorable bunny head, and some rather large bunny ears, part of one ear still remains.

I painted, I pieced, and I glued, slowly knitting the pieces together. I realized as I did that I was also putting myself back together.

The MRI showed a partial tear, some bursitis, and atrophy of some of the shoulder muscles. But, nothing needing surgical repair. I could have done PT, but honestly at that point I could not handle one more person yanking on my arm, or telling me what I should do with my shoulder. I decided to carry on painting and creating my own PT. Which eventually led to a finished painting and a slowly improving shoulder.

Acupuncture has been a mental and emotional lifesaver. Along with Matcha for inflammation, and dietary changes to continue to lessen inflammation. While still not fully healed, it is making slow and steady progress.

A chance conversation with a friend and a moment of bravery led me to enter two pieces of work into an upcoming exhibition. I had never entered a juried event before. I never sought the opportunity, it had always sought me. One mixed media piece was an older piece from Autumn of 2021, I felt that was my strongest work to date. On a whim I decided to enter Delicate Pieces as well.

On August 7, seven months from the date of my shoulder trauma, I received an email letting me know that Delicate Pieces had been accepted into the 94th Michigan Contemporary Art Exhibition to be held at the Muskegon Art Museum. You have to imagine my shock and delight. The exhibition runs September 28 - November 8. I can’t wait to attend the opening reception.

Delicate Pieces is not for sale. It is a personal piece, and vital to my story. That being said I have a new series I am working on, and that will be offered for sale. I am hoping by the time the exhibition opens it will be near completion.