Exhibiting Artist Robin Vance, M.A., A.T.R.-BC, L.M.F.T.

My dear brother-in-law passed away after a long and valiant struggle with cancer. He lived 15 years beyond his original diagnosis. He accomplished so much. His life and his passing taught me so much. When he died he left me with the painful puzzle of how someone can be gone and yet be so present.

My art process helped me to bear and synthesize what was at that time an awful mystery.

Steve was like a horse, strong, big, clumsy, playful, and hard-working . This horse’s skeleton is so moving to me: elegant, and ghostly in the right way…and this is also Steve’s blue, a beautiful blue. The background’s ambivalence, both reflective and obscured, appeals to me. The precise cutting out and manipulation of the collage imagery was soothing. It provided mastery and control. The dripping paint was exciting, even thrilling in it’s uncontrollability, paralleling new waves of grief. Wet paint speaks to me of the washing away, cleansing action of grief.

I’m honored that this image/story is a facet in our celebration of Shirley. I miss her. I feel her curiosity and respectful probing guiding me while doing art therapy. I’m grateful.