By Piece by Piece artist John M.
It was near midday on Saturday, June 16, 1956.
Schools in Los Angeles, California had just adjourned, that Friday, for summer vacation. “School's out for summer,” I thought to myself, “when's dad coming back?“
“Let's go,” he used to tell me as soon as he got home from work, lift me up onto his shoulders and take me off to simple adventures like the store, or barber shop or the like. “This is my boy, and he's with me,” he would tell anyone within earshot.
A few days earlier, to my surprise, he jumped into his brand new, canary-yellow-and-black 1956 Ford Fairlane Sedan and headed down to his father's ranch in sweltering Thermal, California. Mom left in a rush to join him the next day on a Greyhound bus, leaving my dad's older sister to care for my sisters and me.
I was seated alone at the dinner table with a jar of peanut butter and box of saltine crackers making a sandwich when the phone rang. Without any stated information about who was calling, I dropped my head between my hands and onto the table. I didn't have to hear the conversation, I saw everything I needed to know on my aunt's face. My dear old dad had died, we gathered together as a family and cried our eyes out.
At six years old I suddenly felt alone in the world. Sure, I had my three sisters and my mom, but there was an emptiness, an incredible void that persists until today. Depressed beyond anything I can describe in words, I became a loner, began to isolate, detached from a family that loved me so dearly.
I've never been so close to anybody since.
Fortunately, my dad had an Insurance policy that provided an opportunity for me to begin psychological therapy almost right away, which was quite unusual during the mid-1950’s according to a contemporary physician whose opinion I trust and respect.
I was led into a small office for the first session and was presented with a box that contained all of the hundreds of parts needed to build a model aircraft carrier. They sat me alone at a large desk, handed me a tube of plastic airplane glue and had me have at it.
First I assembled the base and hull of the ship, then the flight decks, then the command tower and after that the balance of the basic structures. Next, I began organizing and placing intricate little parts including to-scale jet aircraft, battle stations, spinning gun turrets, guard rails, anchors and other accoutrement attendant to the ship.
This went on for the rest of the summer and into the school year. I remember the anticipation I felt knowing that my ship was there waiting for my next session. I could almost see the printout of the instructions in my sleep. Week after week I put those pieces together, this week planes, next week decals, when everything is in place I’ll get to paint it!
Then, suddenly and without warning, it was over, apparently the benefits had run out. I was never able to complete the project and worse, I didn't get to keep the model.
I was devastated at that but, in retrospect, the opportunity to see those pieces come together from where they had begun instilled in me a skill with recognition of my ability to organize and accomplish difficult tasks.
Although it would be several decades before I realized it, this early experience would set me on a path that would lead me to become a mosaic artist. Having been exposed to the thought processes necessary to construct an item as complicated as an aircraft carrier, mosaic art presented an intriguing new avenue for me to explore, to entertain.
Direction, line, plane, angle, shape, leverage, movement, order, symmetry, form, pattern, organization, timing, planning, and execution had all been introduced to me at a very young age. So here I am with mosaic arts, an exciting new vehicle to express these in a very personal, fulfilling way.
The day I first stumbled upon Piece by Piece, I immediately felt a sense of belonging, a fond kinship, a new connection that I hadn't allowed myself to enjoy for so long life.
I now realize that I have been a mosaic artist nearly all my life. In my travels I was always drawn to the museums, the sculptures, the architecture, monuments, landmarks, and exploits of other creative people and peoples in the wide world of art.
This piece, entitled Unfinished, represents the potential for great works of art. I have been taught invaluable lessons on how to render captivating mosaic pieces using the tools, materials, and techniques provided by Piece by Piece, as a non-profit humanitarian community service organization.
In tribute, I hope to be worthy and to be able to repay with artistic contribution, service and support, the priceless educational value they have so freely shared with me.
Art is great therapy.
