Life offers us a bounty of experience, and how we adapt to the changes that are inevitable is an ability that allows some to move fluidly and learn from the experience. Adjusting to the situation as it is, not as we wish it to be is, one of the many challenges we have all been faced with at some point in life, if not every day this past year!
Lino Tagliapietra, Dream Of A Long Winter, 2021, 76 x 39.5 x 17”. Photo: Russell Johnson
What we keep trying to remember — as we reflect upon the past and look at all the positive experiences — one gift we’ve been given is watching Lino adapt to his experiences and incorporate them into his art over the years; able to be ready for anything and thrive in the opportunities offered by change. It has been inspiring. Witnessing the grace with which he adapted his work through the very challenging “Long Winter” of 20-21, and to retire from the hotshop, his love, his work for over 76 years, to follow other paths has been profound – and much like the way he made work in the hotshop seem effortless, this was most likely not as easy as he makes it appear.
Remembering our walks on the beach of Sanibel Island, looking at the birds, the sunset and the shells washed up whole or broken, Lino found reverence and beauty in each moment, spending time to carefully contemplate and photograph for later reflection. That’s why when we first saw the round panel, Kim imagined seashells washed up on a beach, each intricate pattern in nature an inspiration for pieces of glass from saved shards Lino just could not get rid of... saved for some other purpose recreated into a work that at that time, may have not even been imaginable.
Someone once said that Lino does not make mistakes, he can fix anything he is working on and make it work. Sometimes we need to dream through a long winter to find new inspiration.
Wishing you an insightful winter ahead, surrounded with that which brings you joy.
Kim and Jim
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