Mendofleur

I took this piece upstairs to photograph it, and my only girl kitty decided she would rather be photographed instead. I indulged her as I usually do, and she seemed happy with the photo shoot. She primps a great deal, but was apparently ready for the pose as I took it. She is a princess amongst two conniving male cats. Life is not always easy for this one. I am her body guard, and she knows it.

So on to the real reason for writing this post. I decided I would disclose who this piece was for if you haven’t already guessed. Back in April, I wrote a post on Ryan Smith, the opera tenor who was one of the winners in the Met’s The Audition, the documentary that was so incredibly memorable and well done. Even if you were not a fan of the Met or opera, this film would have stolen your heart, primarily with the story of Ryan. (This post was titled “Staying True”.) It took me awhile to get beyond the sadness I felt for Ryan and his family. I tried to find out more about his life, but could not get any information. I decided I would create a piece to commemorate his life and his remarkable success. During the process of all this thinking and research, one Saturday I logged onto my blog and was reading a few new comments, and as I scrolled down, I came upon the name, Paul Smith. It was Ryan’s father. and he was thanking me for my words about Ryan. I was taken back, but pleased and comforted by his message. And so this was the beginning of this tribute.

I thought I could work from my own feelings…my love of opera, my belief in Ryan as well as the joy and positive traits he exuded, my experience with textiles and sewing and quiltmaking, my love of color and art. What I learned is that you really need a seed, something that establishes a basis for the original idea, and then everything else can become a connecting thread, the symbols, the colors, the pagentry of the stage, the magic, the beauty and astounding process of Ryan’s evolution. The seed I needed was the aria he sang, the one that put him on the map and pin pointed his success. What was that aria?

After playing around with a few googles and fine combing the Metropolitan Opera website, I decided to simply email Paul, Ryan’s father, and see if he might offer me some assistance. I was a little reluctant to do so, but he was very generous and helpful and gave me the name of the aria as well as the opera and the composer. Such a gift this was. Now I could start working on a vision that might encompass all the elements and preserve the essence that I was striving to seek.

The opera was L’arlesiana by Francesco Cilea and the aria was Lamento di Frederico from Act II. In my next post I will provide the story of this opera, the importance of the aria, and particularly why, I believe, Ryan selected it for his audition. I will also give more explanation for my images and some of the symbols.