Dear Mr. Straight,
My name is --- ----. I am a country gal from ----, WV. I have always
loved art and no one truly understood me until I met my hubby 17 years ago. I love to draw portraits with pencil (or
graphite on 2 ply Bristol, if you prefer, ha/ha) and I have tried about every drawing and painting medium that has been available
to me. Unfortunately, I was such a country girl that my parents weren't aware of grants and loans which are available
if you don't have the finances to go to college. I have a passion but am in no way an expert.
I met my hubby in 1988 and he is a photographer at heart and a Videographer by
trade. He does two segments for a local TV station about WV --- and WV ---. Those two shows are his passion. During
his travels he spotted a Sculpture at a place called Poplar Forest in Flatwoods, WV. It depicted a girl sitting in a
chair looking out a window that seemed to be suspended in air. The sculpture immediately reminded him of me because I
love art and because as a child I lived in a very dilapidated house on a farm which belonged to someone else. We lived
there free in exchange for my dad being the caretaker of the farm. At the end of a 2 mile road (or holler, if you will)
there was a two story house which was heirship property and no one could live in it. At the other end of the holler
was he same sort of home which was a sometimes weekend retreat for the owner's of the farm. I waited for a bus at one
home and often walked to the other house just to dream of what it would be like to live there. Our house was almost
exactly in the middle of those houses and there were no other houses on that road.
We now live in a two story home and I love it. I told my husband that I always
dreamed of living in one or the other of those houses and having a bedroom upstairs. I wanted to have a chair at the
window where I could just sit and think and dream and look out at the sky. We had 7 people in our family and lived in
a little 2 bedroom, one closet, no indoor plumbing house, while two wonderful houses were on either side of us and I wanted
to live in one of those houses so bad. Well, long story longer, I moved into my 2 story house at the age of 32 ten
years ago with my beautiful daughter and wonderful hubby.
---- stopped at the Flatwoods store 4 years ago and made a deal with the owners
that if they would agree to sell the sculpture to him, he would pay for it regularly until it was paid in full. It is amazing
that those folks allowed that type of arrangement to be made. He works at the TV station and I am disabled from the Postal
Service so it has taken a some time to get it paid for and I never knew about it until Christmas day. He paid for it through
the store moving twice and finally closing down and him losing track of where the sculpture might be. Thank God, quite literally,
a lady who worked there took my sculpture with her in hopes ---- would contact her. It took several weeks for him to find
out whom and if anyone from the store knew where the piece was. He looked on your web site and saw it and was afraid the store
had given it back to you without letting you know he had paid quite a bit of money down on it. It touched me so much that
#1 - he had paid for it and kept it a secret for so long and
#2 - He had been so worried about the store closing and the sculpture being lost
and had not been able to share that burden with me.
#3 - I OWN A SCULPTURE, a piece of art that has to be insured.
I will assure that no matter who has your work and no matter how big their
collection is, no piece is treasured like mine is. When --- gave it to me we both cried and cried and then my husband
turned to our 11 year old daughter and told her that this is to be our family heirloom and it is to be handed down and down
and down with it's story. My husband realized the last time we watched To Kill a Mockingbird, when Scout asks
Atticus what she will get since Jem gets his watch and Atticus tells her that she will get her mothers pearl necklace. ---
realized we have nothing of value to hand down to our little girl, thus the sculpture is two-fold.
You have read through this very long e-mail just so I could ask you what the name
of my piece is. I hope you smile when you read this and know how much one of your works means to one little family in ----
County WV.
Sincerely, ---- -----
