Hanging Out

Now that my wife and I have started the discussion of downsizing one day, it has gotten me thinking a lot about what things I am willing to let go and what things I could never part with.  After nearly 45 years of marriage, we have unfortunately accumulated quite a lot of “things,” things about which I have previously posted.  But one category of those things that may present a challenge are the pieces of art that adorn our walls.

Living in a 4-bedroom, 3600 square foot home, we have a lot of wall space upon which to hang things. Knowing when we downsize, we will not have as much wall space to utilize, some of these will have to go.  But how to decide?

I have a number of framed items that I know I will want to hang in our next home and all of them have a story behind them.

For many years, on my way to our cafeteria at work, I passed a piece of art hanging in the hallway.  I was so much enamored by it that one day I took a digital photo of it.  And using proportions and lots of blue painter’s tape, as best as I could with my limited artistic talent, I reproduced it.

In 2017, the decision was made to close our site in Memphis.  As a part of the closure, many assets were being disbursed to employees.  Having always admired this piece of corporate art, I was first in line to ask for it.  It was a very happy day when I drove home with it in the back of my car, and it now adorns the wall in our entry hall.

The year our dad died, I flew out to Oklahoma City to attend an art opening for my sister where she was displaying for sale, many of the beautiful quilts she had made over the years.  I fell in love with one piece she had done that depicted three colorful Adirondack chairs on a beach.  I would have bought it right then if I thought I could have afforded it.  But alas I really couldn’t.

However, her quilt inspired me to recreate it when I was making miniature phone chairs that I lined up next to our pool to model her quilt.

On one of our SibSabs at our sister’s house in Northwest Arkansas, she mentioned that she was needing to clean out some of her old quilts.  I cautiously said I would be glad to take the one of the Adirondack chairs.  You could not believe how excited I was when she said I could have it.  It now also adorns the wall in our entry hall above the stairs.

I have written numerous times about our love for Montreat, NC, the place where my siblings and I vacationed each year growing up.  Whenever we are there, we always take lots of photos.  And one photo we often capture is the gate greeting us every time we enter the town.

Unknown to me, one year my sister took the digital photo I had taken and created a digital painting of it.  She gave it to me for my birthday that year.  It now hangs over my desk where I keep my computer and so any time I look up, I see that welcoming gate that is so special to us.

Asheville, NC is the largest town close to Montreat, just 30 miles to the west.  The Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) runs through Asheville, a road I have written about before and driven many, many times.  Up the road just a short distance is the Folk Art Center which displays and sells local art.  I have actually purchased two items there that I know I will always want to keep.

The first is a raised-relief map of the Asheville area that also depicts the route of the BRP along the tops of the Blue Ridge Mountains and which my daughter framed for me one year.

The second is one of those WPA National Park posters that—you guessed it—depicts the BRP.

I have also written several times about my love for San Francisco, a city I have visited too numerous times to even count.  This is where I taught my professional level course for many years, it’s across the bay from where my daughter went to graduate school in Berkeley, and just south of there is where my son and his family now resides.  One of my favorite landmarks is the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, which I have photographed from many different perspectives.

While visiting one of the touristy piers in Fisherman’s Wharf, I went into a poster shop and found one I had to have.  It pictured the bridge under construction in 1935 with a flying boat passing close by.  While admittedly this is not an original work of art, it is still a favorite image of mine and adorns one of the walls in the room where my computer is and where I spend a lot of time.

The last item I would place in this same category is rather unique although it too is not original art.  One year for my birthday, my eldest son gave me two framed prints that had apparently been taken from a Dutch Architecture book.  They show the front and back side of a very unusual looking building in Hoorn, The Netherlands.

Sometime afterwards, my son texted me to say that using Google Earth, he had found where the building was located in Hoorn.  Amsterdam is another destination where I taught my professional level course for many years and so on my next visit there, I traveled to Hoorn to take photos of the building which was featured in a blog post itself (Click HERE for the full story).  As I explained in that post, I was not able to replicate the book images exactly as from the front, I could not get far enough back to take the photo even pressing my back flat against a building, a building that was obviously not there when the images were first captured.

But this foursome now graces the wall above another desk in our house where I spend time doing my consulting work on a different computer.

So, when that day comes and we take that final step to downsize, I will carefully load these wall hangings for safe transport to our smaller downsized residence.