Clare Henney: Art Project

If there was one goal that I didn’t expect to accomplish this year, it would probably be this: making an art project that I could display around the house. I was expecting to paint something I could frame and put up on the wall but my art project turned out to be something else: the restoration of a statue of the Virgin Mary (Nuestra Sra Del Biglang Awa, as it said underneath it) that we have around the house. The Mary statue belonged to my father, who got it from his mother.  Both of them have already passed away.  I was walking downstairs one weekend and found myself looking at this old plaster statue that was held together by masking tape and rugby (which I assume to be my late father’s doing).  I just had this urge to fix it so I spent the day taking out the tape and rugby and glued the entire thing back together, making a paper towel mâché with elmer’s glue to cover major gaps and holes in the statue.  I then painted over it (because the paint was faded and patchy) and made it look new.  My mom was really happy to see it looking brand-new (especially since with all the restoration I discovered that it was made in August 1959!).

If there’s one thing that I realized from the experience, it’s that I enjoy doing art work and projects like that.  I liked getting my hands dirty doing things like that and coming up with the results that I did.  I hope I can do more art projects in the future.  I need to find the time for it again soon!