Helping the bereaved

Jackie and I have been going to a monthly meeting called the critique group for several years. It is a small group, personally invited by the one who thought it up. Very small. Just enough to sit around her dining table. Usually there are 5 of us, sometimes 6. Jackie was always more comfortable in smaller groups. And she always brought interesting things to show us, and also made great thoughtful comments on our art. What we do is bring things we have done, or books we have read on art, and discuss them. If we want something critiqued, we ask for opinions and suggestions. We bounce ideas off of each other. We know each other well enough to know the comments we get will be "real". I've seen great work there I never would have seen otherwise, and it is interesting to see how each of us approaches our work, and the processes we go through. I almost always come home thinking about a comment someone has made, maybe not to me, but something to mull over and consider. Over the years we have moved beyond art, into talking about our lives, and families. I consider them close friends.

All this is a lead in to what we will do next week at our monthly meeting. Jackie's husband needs her studio emptied so he can finish it before he goes in for a hip replacement in a couple weeks. When they made the studio area, she was in such a rush to move things into it, he could never finish it. LOL Just like the rest of us. So he has boxed and bagged things up, art supplies, materials and books, and we will go together to pick them up in the morning. We'll take them back to our hostess's house and sort through it and take what we can use, then decide how to dispose of the rest. Jaxx's family does not care where it goes, only that it goes away, and hopefully gets used. One of the collaborative works Jackie and I shared is there, and I need to get it back. It was her turn last, and I have not seen what she did, or if she was well enough to add to it. I hope she did something in it. It's very precious to me. I might not work in it again, or I might ask the critique group if they would continue it for her.

Most of our group and art friends have discussed what will become of our things when we pass on. These are real concerns when one reaches a certain age. It is understood that whoever is still able, will come help clean it out and find homes for it. Most of us have a lot of stuff. Way too much stuff. I inherited art things from my aunt, and a lot of it is still here. Jackie is the first one of my peers to go, so we'll see if our plan works. None of us is looking forward to Monday. I warned Barry that he may have a house full of weeping women. But we feel like by going together we will be stronger and have moral support and shoulders to cry on, should we need them. I can see Jackie smiling and laughing. She will be glad we are able to help out.