The Will to be An Artist: The Art of Bonnie Waker at Putney Library
The feeling of one’s motor functions slipping away must be a devastating realization. Add to this the fact that you are an artist, and what you produce with your hands keeps your spiritual life afloat. It would require a strong will to carry on and maintain self-respect. This strength resonates throughout the art work now on display at the Putney Public Library through the month of July.
Bonnie Waker began making art in 1998 with Rick Campman at the River Gallery School. She could still use her hands and walk. She worked in oils and still could produce the representational images as she envisioned them. As time took away her mobility, she says, “I was terribly frustrated, and felt I couldn’t ‘do’ anything artistic. I began trusting whatever happened on the paper. I could still choose the colors and the brush, but there was not guarantee of how the stroke would come out.”
Her friends and caretakers help, taping the paper down, shaving the watercolor crayons , cutting and gluing collage pieces and helping with other processes too difficult for her, a true community effort. She says, …”my friends have become a part of what I am creating”.
There will be a closing reception for Bonnie’s art show Tuesday, July 24th from 6pm – 8pm.
Waker’s work will be on view for the rest of the month of July in the Library’s gallery space and can be viewed during regular library hours : 10:30am-6pm Monday-Friday and 10am-1pm Saturdays.
Putney Public Library is located at 55 Main St in Putney, VT. This event is free and open to the public.