The nature of art...

When we moved into our house a little over ten years ago, there were two barn shaped sheds on the property.  I thought they were charming little buildings but they were no longer useful to store anything as there were holes in their roofs and their doors wouldn’t close properly.  We hung onto them anyway mostly because there was no real reason to take them down.  But one of them did go about five years ago when we had some much needed landscaping done and now, I am sorry to say, the other is gone, too. 

Greg asked Jim, handyman extraordinaire, who does work for us now and then to remove it.  Last winter was its ruin.  The huge amount of snow we got in January and February caused the roof to collapse and after that, we knew it had to go.  Still, it made me sad to watch Jim dismantling that little building piece by piece.  I had often used it as a photographic subject.  I knew I would miss it, but it really had to be removed before it deteriorated further.

 

It made me think about the usefulness of things.  We would never have thought about using that old shed in the way it was intended to be used.  But ever since we took possession of this house, there was a bit of comfort for me to look out the kitchen window and see that little shock of red especially in the winter.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that some things can be useful if they only add beauty to the world and make us feel happy.  And I suppose that is part of the nature of art.

The old worn out phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” comes into play here though.  Would our neighbors have considered our little dilapidated barn a piece of art?  Probably not.  I’m pretty sure they were glad to see the old thing go.  But I think it will take me some time to get used to looking out my kitchen window and seeing plain old woods where I used to see that little shock of red. 

The shed in the winter of 2009.

Little by little and piece by piece...

Something's missing.