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. '       It was spring of 1924, when John and Josie got married. Theirs had been a long courtship. Living states away from one another, they had been corresponding for many years. She knew what getting married to him would mean. She would have to leave her mother and her hometown of Dassel, Minnesota and move all the way to Iowa. She dreamed about what it would be like and one day, finally, she was ready. She wrote her love a letter and a few months later John arrived and they became newlyweds. Their plan was to take the train to start their new life together in Iowa.  The railroad would be able to take them as far as Waterloo where they’d visit with friends and see some sites for a week before catching another train to their final destination, their new home in Wayne County. They’d been there, staying with friends for only a few days when there was a knock at the door. They opened it to a raggedy boy who told them there was a new group of gypsies ...

My mixed media piece, Copper Colorado, was completed in two separate phases.   My canvas was Phase One.  He came home with this plank that had been considered construction rubbish. When he told me it was a tread from someone's porch steps, I was intrigued. I began to scrutinize it and noticed a smudge of antique copper paint that had been stomped into the grain, but no one had managed to stomp it off over its many years.  I noticed its receded soft grains which moved like canyon rivers and its hard grains became imposing Colorado Mesas above. I was motivated to uncover its textural treasures, and I cleaned it up as if I were an archeologist, so as not to disturb any of its landscape, but rather amplify it as is.  The paint smudge remained and became integral. Phase Two was my realization of the purpose of the plank, which happened three or four years later. I stumbled upon some old battery cables that had big, gnarly terminals, and, more importantly, the copper wires...