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The Art of Thanksgiving
Low Water, Hot Summer, Susquehanna River
Expressing gratitude for art is a fairly common thing
for me, but this year is a little different, as I realize
how fortunate I am - lucky to be me, in a sense.
Thanksgiving focus is usually on family and friends,
and my art stems from both: my father was a painter
and printer, and my childhood was filled with friends
who were also artists. My father, John L. Lehman,
has been gone for eight years now, but his presence
is a constant through his artwork that fills my home.
He made art a fundamental part of life, not a frill, not
a peripheral decoration; rooms without art-filled walls
simply didn't exist in my little universe. I was also given
a sense that a room dedicated to art-making is normal
in a home, as well - Pop's studio was a magical haven
for this little girl!
So I absorbed art the way many little girls absorb their
mother's cooking skills. And I'm fortunate to be able to
have the artmaking tools and studio space so important to
my life, life as it surrounded me my earliest Thanksgivings.
So this year, when I sit down to Thanksgiving dinner
(prepared by a friend who absorbed her mother's cooking
skills . . . !) I'll be consciously aware of the art-filled blessings
of my family, who left me a bountiful heritage of creating and
enjoying art. I can't imagine life without it!
The painting here is by my father, Pennsylvania impressionist
John L. Lehman:
"Low Water, Hot Summer, Susquehanna River"
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