For the first 36 years it was "tolerated". No bad comments but nothing overly supportive............go to a show...heaven forbid. A year ago, this all changed...It was World Expo in Boston when she decided to go, only because the other 5 of our group were attending with significant others in tow...translation lots of shopping and a "Old babes gone Wild" weekend in Boston. "SHow, what show, we will see you for dinner". After some proding, she enters the exhibit hall, and is amazed at the level of "Art". I explain Christan Petite display demonstrating how Indians think in a circular manner and the white Man thinks in a linear manner (The vignette with the indian signaling with his knife and the troopers watering horses below.......lot going on in that vignette), then she strikes up a conversation with Bob Travis on his thinking with his Zoot Suit Riot piece.....45 minutes later and she is really getting into it.........."There is a lot to this, what fansinating people!" Next we visit Jan Muldoon at her flats booth, and see the pieces in a different light aided of course with a female viewpoint.....Ok enough, but the kicker was at the awards ceramony where from the balcony (Yes, she was with the female gaggle that were blowing the kazoo's everytime one of our group was given an award) she could clearly see the comradie of the participants and just how important this hobby is to a select group of people. Well the long and the short of it is she now looks forward to my bringing her a recently completed piece to lookat and recently has become quite adept at noticing things ( I recently added the Blue to Bravehearts face at her suggestion for more contrast to the other dull colors). Bottomline, she is finally over the hump and truely values what I do with these little pieces of jewelry. I guess the messge here is we sometimes forget that others look at the hobby as only the splashing of paint on toy soldiers. So for as long as it takes and as frustrating as it may be, we need to continually communicate the finer aspects of what we do, the depth in which we technically (Artisitic) work, the History that drives us, and most importantly the strong friendships we develop.
