For the love of dog

On the same day in June, two smart, playful, happy dogs who had lived a world apart left the adventures of their lives behind to take up residence in the quiet and tender corners of the human hearts that loved them.

Chewbacca, a six year-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever in Wyoming, had lived with Rachel and was loved by her sister too.

Jack, a 13 year-old Australian Red Cattle Dog lived in Queensland AU with Chris and a family that includes two other dogs, all of them rescued from unfortunate circumstances, perhaps the most poignant being Jack’s.

Objects such as cremation urns, keepsakes, and other kinds of memorial items cannot replace a profound loss—no matter how beautifully made by sensitive artists. What is possible, however, when carefully chosen urns or objects of remembrance are kept at home, are opportunities to engage in the experience of loss through a contemplative process.

Perhaps, for example, when Rachel and her sister strike a match to the tea lights in the Faithful Friends ornaments that Rachel selected, they’ll remember the flickers of delight in the dark pools of Chewie’s eyes that would welcome them home. Maybe seeing the glistening bits of mica in the chocolate-brown clay Abundant Earth urn that Rachel chose for his ashes is what feels “perfect”, as she wrote, because it’s both a beautiful and final means of sheltering and loving him. Rachel chose an urn larger than needed, but having that extra space also creates a place to put Chewie’s tags and collar, a favorite toy, and to express gratitude for the gift of his life when she lifts the lid by its gnarled bronze handle to add the first red leaf of autumn or a perfectly smooth stone.

For Chris, a beautiful urn for Jack is a tribute to a wonderful animal who reminds us of how much there is to learn from innocent lives that have suffered terribly yet are still capable of showing boundless and unconditional love. While Jack might have thought he was the lucky one to be rescued from unspeakable pain inflicted by unconscionable humans, Chris’s gratitude for seeing in Jack “life lessons on four legs” is the greater gift, and one that he has generously shared with us.The experience of recognizing certain works of art as a means—even a tool—to help us heal, is surely embedded in the work that many artists make. Art, and those who need it, sometimes find each other. In the very same week this summer, choices made by one caring person in Wyoming and another in Australia, each mourning the loss of their four-legged companions, made this abundantly clear.

The lovely Tilly

Rachel couldn’t have known that Alison Counsell, who creates the Faithful Friends votives, had lost her own very dear hiking companion, Tilly, only a few weeks before to a fast-acting disease.

Nor could Rachel and also Chris have known that Carol Green, who made each of the mica-clay urns they purchased, is part of a family dedicated to animal welfare, particularly rescuing dogs who would otherwise not know love and human kindness.

We are so grateful to artists who imagine and produce work with good intentions, who use their materials conscientiously while creating something of beauty and purpose. When we recognize ourselves and those we love through their work, we are all richer for the experience.

Please speak up in defense of animals who rely on the kindness of humans to protect them from those who through ignorance, intention or neglect cause them harm.

May you, your family, and all creatures enjoy a full, safe and beautiful life.

P.S.   If you would like to write a note of support to an animal welfare group of your choice, we would like to send you a postcard (or a few) to help you express your appreciation — even if it’s simply “Great job!”, though if you write a note and include a donation of any size to them in memory of an animal you’ve loved, we’re sure they’d be grateful.

Simply send your mailing address to us at arthonorslife(at)funeria.com (US addresses only, please) and we’ll send you the cards in an envelope. You’re also welcome to write a note in memory of a dog or other animal you’ve loved, along with your favorite animal welfare rights group (including a link to them), in the comments section below.

A Londonberry Poet’s Pantoum to a Modern Urn

Jodi Hottel reading Seltear | June 4, 2011 | FUNERIA’s first literary arts event in the gallery. Thank you, Jodi, for permission to publish your evocative work, written specially for the occasion.

The Pantoum form is described here.

Poetry of memory and desire, remembrance and celebration debuts in our visually rich personal memorial art gallery when the North Bay’s Londonberry Poets read June 4, 2011

We’re pleased to welcome six published North Bay poets to our first literary arts event in our West Sonoma County gallery. Each of the Londonberry Poets is distinguished by their distinct voice, thoughtfulness and insight that honors emotion and shuns sentimentality. Reading their works are: David Beckman, Jodi Hottel, Bonnie Long, Greg Randall, Marian Van Horn and Toni Wilkes.

You are cordially invited to join us for Memory & Desire | Poetry of Remembrance and Celebration by the Londonberry Poets at Art Honors Life | The Gallery at FUNERIA, Saturday, June 4, 4–6 PM. Refreshments for your body and mind will be served. An RSVP is appreciated but not required.

♦♦♦

For one lovely afternoon, the spoken word will occupy center stage in our main gallery while guests take their seats in the midst of original, evocative art objects intended to honor a beautiful life. If you’re unable to join us in person, find a poem and read it. Here’s a lovely place we’ve found recently to start looking.

FUNERIA’s 5th biennial Ashes to Art® exhibition of new funerary art, original cremation urns and personal memorial objects continues to inspire

Just when you thought it couldn’t get better, it’s the best show yet!

(a guest book comment from a collector who has seen every exhibition since Ashes to Art® debuted in 2001)

The gallery is all about being immersed in a sensory and visual experience that is both “surprisingly buoyant” as one reviewer wrote and provocative. It gets you thinking… about a lot of things.

Of the amazing capacity that artists have to create the most remarkable work, and how societies throughout time have been enriched by the fruits of their imagination and labor.

Of love, loss, remembrance, celebration, commemoration, the emergence of new rituals and the means to act them out in the most gracious and meaningful ways.

The images speak for themselves. But you also must visit the full online exhibition catalogue of this remarkable biennial public art event that showcases the very best, most original and superbly crafted artist-made cremation urns and contemporary funerary art to suit 21st century tastes and needs. You will feel rewarded for having done so…. satisfaction guaranteed.

FUNERIA’s 5th biennial Ashes to Art® exhibition of new funerary art, original cremation urns and personal memorial objects continues to inspire. Come visit the nation’s first art gallery of its kind to specialize in original artist-made cremation urns and personal memorial objects.

Mystical, magical, morning light (and an artist-made cremation urn sale with down to earth prices)

Natural light is a blessing… that turning your face toward the sun kind of feeling that infuses your whole being with a big hello from the greatest expanse we can fathom. It’s fundamental to how the Photographer, who is also the Scribe, prefers to shoot, because it’s how the world is—one huge composite of what are essentially simple forms that expand ever outward. Light and shadow. Each little bit reflecting or absorbing light. Beautiful. The gallery, by its very nature and facing east, offers its own warm embrace, every single morning. Come see!

Visitors to the gallery for only two more days—Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 4-5 from 10AM to 5PM will have a terrific opportunity to find absolutely beautiful, exquisitely crafted, original artist-made urns, vessels, scattering spoons, keepsakes, reliquaries, mementos… they may be called by different names but they are all superb examples of contemporary funerary art that are intended to honor a life well-lived and much-loved. They’re all available at 20% savings (at least…. some even more)!

Each artist whose work is represented by FUNERIA online and in our Art Honors Life® gallery has been invited into our fold either because their work was chosen through a rigorous jurying process for one of our Ashes to Art® exhibitions, or through an equally competitive review cycle by arts professionals, curators, educators, award-winning artists, top designers and specialists in a range of media who comprise our arts advisory panel and know the genuine from artificial and choose the sublime over the ordinary.

Here, right now, visitors will find work in the broadest range of media, sizes, designs and production processes that express great imagination, whimsy, dignity and respect for the individuals they’ll serve and often in unique earth-friendly forms whose sophisticated designs belie the materials from which they’re made.

From now through Sunday September 5, visitors will enjoy a HUGE opportunity in being able to acquire any piece in the gallery at great savings.

But wait… there’s something up our sleeve. Here’s a sneak peek at two new brand spankin’ new, fresh from artist Nancy Winn’s studio, papier-mâché urns for beloved critters made just for us (and for you too!). Both of these delightful creatures are in the gallery now and they’re available at sale pricing this weekend only!

Ah yes, light is good. May it shine on you and all that you pursue this Labor Day weekend in the states, wherever you roam or call home.

Here’s to your beautiful life!

Please inquire regarding any unique, artist-made cremation urns or personal memorial art and remembrance objects for people and our cherished pets you see in our Portfolio, or have caught in glimpses in these posts.

A Private Sale at Art Honors Life® | Fri, Sat, Sun | Sept 3, 4, 5

We hope you will enjoy a first-ever opportunity to acquire an original artwork, at 20% off the retail price, from among the many pieces in all sizes and media that are currently available in the gallery.

Scroll through our posts and you’ll see a small portion of your choices (barring prior full-priced sale).

Several are award-winning pieces or new work by past award recipients from our biennial international Ashes to Art® competitions. As this year’s jurors are in the midst of selecting pieces for our 5th biennial event, which opens October 23, we need room for the upcoming installations. The beautiful pieces here deserve a home where they’ll be as cherished for their beauty as much as for their potential to serve a meaningful purpose.

The original retail prices were set by the artists themselves. As all of the work in our gallery is consigned to us, the gallery is absorbing the discount. Artists will earn their full portion.

It only seems fair because we all know that handmade work, particularly of this caliber, requires far more hours and fastidious attention to detail than most artists are able to earn for it. But why is that? Why are artists’ efforts and the fruits of creative pursuits so often dismissed as though they are a “labor of love” for the artists personal pleasure when they have the capacity to serve such rich emotional, psychological, spiritual and also practical purposes in our lives and our culture?

And this point, dear reader, is one reason why FUNERIA is so dedicated to developing a marketplace in which artists’ most inspired work, that can be applied to a unique and intimate purpose, deserves respect and appropriate compensation, and why it’s never kind to ask an artist to discount their work. As their gallery, however, we’re happy to keep the artwork flowing in and out. So, for this one time only three-day event, Art Honors Life is pleased to reduce our prices.

Here’s a little story to illustrate the commercial challenges that artists who are creating the most unique original work occasionally face:

We received a call from a woman who had purchased a lidded vessel in a gallery she didn’t name but said was located in a popular Southwest art destination. She wanted another one, similar to what she owned. She had purchased the first as an art object because she loved its vibrant color and amazingly textured surface. In contacting the original gallery, she learned that they had discontinued carrying that artist’s work.

Frustrated but determined, the caller found the artist’s name in our Portfolio and the piece she was looking for on our website. She didn’t care that it was identified as an urn. She just loved it, bought it, and as we were wrapping and preparing to ship it to her on the same day, a caller that didn’t identify themselves except as being from the same Southwest city in which our client had purchased her first work by our artist, inquired if we carried the same piece that we had just sold.

We said, yes, in fact we do and we love the work. It’s entirely unique and takes a certain eye to appreciate what the artist has achieved in making it. We have many other pieces here in the gallery. How could we help? The caller, still not revealing themselves as the gallery owner that no longer carried our artist’s work, then asked, “Well, do you think that (the artist’s name) work will appreciate in value in the secondary art market?”

[ pause ]

We responded, “… do you mean as a used container for cremated remains”?

The moral of the story is, yes, the work that FUNERIA offers in our Portfolio and in our Art Honors Life gallery can certainly be enjoyed and admired for its beauty alone. As a standalone artwork, it may very well appreciate in monetary value over time, and even in the secondary market because a number of our artists’ (unoccupied) artworks are enjoying exactly that. But, when the need and desire arise to use it for a personal memorial purpose, perhaps as an urn or small keepsake for a parent, child, sibling, beloved companion, spouse and cherished family pet, its value can only be fully understood and appreciated by those who acquire it in order to shelter the last remains of a life they’ve loved.

It does a heart good to be offering beautiful artwork for such an important purpose. We hope you will join us in the gallery on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day Weekend 2010 to enjoy a rare opportunity, and perhaps to find something perfectly wonderful and very well-priced just for you.

Tonight’s the night. Let’s live it up.

The Scribe enters the gallery every morning, throwing open tall oak shutters as if anticipating a view of the Piazza Pitti, pulling linen curtains aside from doors leading to the outside decks, and after booting up the deus ex machina, savors the beginning of another day in the midst of beautiful, superbly crafted artwork… all sitting so decorously on their pedestals just as we left them the night before…. or so, at first glance, it would appear.

The gallery holds secrets, however, as well as wishes, dreams and memories yet to be made. It’s a setting Disney and Pixar would love, filled with inanimate objects that are brimming with character.

It’s not a big stretch to imagine that Tony Knapp’s group of Sumi ink- saturated wood hollow-eyed figures with sticks for hair, sometimes big hands and feet, have spent the bulk of the night sidling over to Shawn McDonald’s kinetic Planets, twirling the cast bronze celestial orb on its steel post like a roulette wheel and betting on where the globes will align.

Meanwhile, the proud, sensual, shimmering pewter gray gaze of Anubis is contemplating McDonald’s tall sand cast bronze Pyramid across an aisle as if guarding the temple for its future master, while an elegant covey of Carol Green‘s glassy glazed urns in peacock shades of aqua, cobalt, and green are fussing over which one has the prettiest gemstones fastidiously set in their sterling silver lids. The little crystalline glazed one with gold vermeil and a brilliant citrine on a tall spire is particularly pleased with itself (with good reason).

It’s quite a stage set, really. There are patrician urns, fancifully decorated pillow urns by Darlene Davis that appear to be holding their breath, Ellen Jantzen’s biodegradable Metamorphosis keepsake urn that is inconclusively fish or fowl, and an Urn for a Porn Star with an iconic relic tucked inside by Slovenia’s Joze Subic.

Catch them while you can.  Each is an entirely unique delight in a special presentation of the most imaginative and superbly crafted artist-made urns, keepsakes, and personal memorial art objects in the world.

You will only find them right here and right now.

Please inquire. We’ll leave the light on for you.