Saturday, June 07, 2014

The Pursuit Of Beauty

I have a friend named Stephanie who I've known for more than twenty years.  We went to high school together in New York.

After graduation we went our separate ways, living different lives in different states, but she was close with my brother and his wife and visited us in Arizona on more than one occasion.  We were bridesmaids together in my brother's wedding, and a few years ago we reconnected on Facebook, allowing us to arrange to meet in a parking lot in the Boston area where she lives, to give each other a long overdue hug.

Stephanie is married (to a total hottie!) and has three children.  This is the street where my friend Stephanie and her family live. 

The Department of Public Works, putting the taxpayer dollar to good use, left their neighborhood with this unintentionally elaborate and erratic crack-sealing design.  When Stephanie's daughter Emily saw it she said, "We need to color that in!"
So Emily, a quiet, creative, funny, sarcastic almost 16-year-old enlisted the help of her brothers, Matt and Ben, rounded up some chalk, and turned this patchwork of road into a stained glass masterpiece.
I think it's amazing!  I absolutely love it.  And what I love more, is that the beautiful mind of this young woman looked at a battered, patched, crazy, might-be-perceived-as-ugly-by-the-residents-of-the-neighborhood road and made something absolutely stunning out of it.

This is the kind of teenager parents should wish for.

I love the whimsy of it.  I love when art infuses the everyday.  I love seeing something unique.  Unexpected.  Colorful.

This screams joy.

I would LOVE to turn down a street in a neighborhood and happen upon this. 












"Art is the most intense mode of individualism
that the world has known."
~ Oscar Wilde
Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing Emily's individual vision with your family, your friends, your community, and now allowing me to share it with the small world of my readers.  
Emily, Stephanie, and Matthew McBride
Louis Comfort Tiffany, known for his stained glass designs, declared that his life-long goal was "the pursuit of beauty".

I think he would have approved of this design.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2013: Grand Prix du Canada Practice Laps
2012: The Perils Of Over-The-Road Trucking
2011: I Never Did Like The Feeling Of Hair In My Mouth
2010: The Highs Were High But The Lows Are Even Lower
2009: The Preferred Route For Geriatric Men In South Bend, Indiana
2008: I’m Glad The Great Spirit Was A Dirt Theif
2007: Polishing My Listening Skills
2006: The Protective Roomate
2005: Hottie

3 comments:

Mike Kennedy said...

Perfect! This was the coolest thing I read on Facebook in a long time. Wonderful write up Salena.

MAE said...

Cute kids with beautiful minds...hoorah to Stephanie...

Gil said...

Beautiful! The kid is a genius with plenty of artistic talent. Glad to see that some municipalities still fill in the cracks. Connecticut used to back in the day....