ANNIE’S MAILBOX: Stepfather must take steps to keep boy from becoming an abusive adult. | 2D
LIFE
The Paducah Sun | Sunday, July 12, 2009 | paducahsun.com
Section
D
Artist’s wood quilts trick the eye
ADAM SHULL | The Sun
Artist Fraser Smith, left, paints one of his carved quilts. Fraser’s works (above, left) are on display at the National Quilt Museum as part of the ‘Quilted Wonders: Fabric or Wood?’ exhibit, which runs through Oct. 6.
Contributed photo
Fraser Smith’s bold work is on display at the National Quilt Museum BY ADAM SHULL
[email protected]
E
ven non-quilters know about the wooden quilt at the National Quilt Museum. Hanging in a side board room for seven years, the multi-colored piece defies the eyes, convincing you it’s fabric until you’re close enough to touch it. “I have two or three people almost every day walk into my office saying ‘We’re looking for the wooden quilt. Where is it?’” said Jessica Byassee, museum spokeswoman. Even after walking by it twice, people have to feel a small demo piece to believe the wrinkles are carved
wood, not hanging fabric. An exhibit opened this weekend at the museum, displaying four new wooden quilts, a jacket and other similar “I can’t believe that’s wood” pieces. Called “Quilted Wonders: Fabric or Wood?” it’s the first exhibit of artist Fraser Smith’s at the museum. “It took me about a month to do the jacket,” Smith said Wednesday inside the museum. “The first jacket I ever did took a year to do.” A Tampa, Fla., resident, Smith discovered his penchant for woodwork as an undergraduate in the 1980s at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. An architect out of school, and now a full-time artist, Smith experimented with advanced carving tools at the college, starting with clothes. “They were all clothes with memories associated with them,” Smith said. “Clothes you don’t wear anymore but you keep around.” From clothes the jump to quilts, and their special meanings, was natural, he said. “Quilts fit into my thinking of fabric
“I have two or three people almost every day walk into my office saying ‘We’re looking for the wooden quilt.’” Jessica Byassee Museum spokeswoman like that,” Smith said. “And they opened up so many artistic possibilities.” The wood pieces are art on two fronts. Smith carves and sculpts his pieces from solid slabs of wood usually shipped from Wisconsin. He cuts designs and uses everything from wood bleach to silk dye to shoe polish to add vibrant color that looks authentic, not like painted wood. Judy Schwender, museum curator, said the artistry involved is what will stay with people about the exhibit. “People will realize that he is an artist,”
Want to go? What: “Quilted Wonders: Fabric or Wood?” exhibit When: Through Oct. 6. Where: National Quilt Museum, 215 Jefferson St. Cost: $8 adults, $6 seniors and students, $5 groups of 15 or more. More: call 442-8856 or visit www.quiltmuseum.org Schwender said. “He’s going for color, for design, and not just for reality.” She said the same goes for similar work up at the new exhibit from Fay Jean Hooker. Smith’s only advice to people looking at the exhibit: Don’t try to sleep under these quilts. “About 70 pounds,” Smith said. “That’s the normal size weight for a piece.”
Contact Adam Shull, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8653.
After 14 years in western Kentucky, time to say goodbye I still remember the morning ride down the Western Kentucky Parkway all those years ago, looking out the window at the fog and wondering what I was getting myself into. I didn’t know the half of it. I started attending Murray State University in the fall of 1995; several months earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to find Murray on a map. If you had told me then that I’d spend the next 14 years in western Kentucky, I would have laughed. Of course, I wasn’t nearly as smart as I thought I was. That’s still
C.D. Bradley probably the case. I found a home in Murray, a second family. I met my best friends there, and mentors, learned a craft and fell in love. I did a little growing up, if not enough, and I got married on the courthouse
steps in the town square. I also had a lot of fun, too much at times, and made a lot of memories; some I’d like to forget, and others are a tad foggier than I’d prefer. They knew me there. The ladies at Dumplins knew to bring the water pitcher to the table when I rolled in, and the bartenders at the Big Apple knew my beverages of choice. Then we moved to Paducah, where I was already working at the Sun. Here I built a career and a family, again carving out a place for myself in a city I’m fairly sure I hadn’t heard of
growing up in Louisville, where anything beyond ETown is considered uncharted territory. My wife and I settled in, made friends, had a baby boy too much like me for his own good, and built a life. They came to know me here, too. One of the biggest benefits of being a newspaper reporter is the people you meet, across all parts of the community, and I came to know many of you well over the past decade. As people have found out I’m leaving, they’ve kindly told me how much I’ll be
missed. I’m fairly sure, though, that the Sun will keep right on publishing, and several months from now they’ll start struggling to remember that guy from the paper who used to pester them all the time. (Except for Bartleman, who will no doubt torment my successors with stories about me, followed up with, “I bet you don’t even know who that is.”) Know this: We’ll always remember western Kentucky fondly, the folks from Murray and Paducah and Kevil and Mayfield and Fancy Farm and, of course, Monkey’s Eye-
brow and Possum Trot. A couple of housekeeping items: ■ McCracken County Public Library: I won’t be checking out any more books, so I won’t be running up any more late fees. Adjust your budget accordingly. ■ The first rumor I heard when I started working at the Sun was that Target was coming. One of the last rumors I heard as a reporter at the Sun was that Target was coming. Paducah still has the same number of Targets Please see BRADLEY | 2D
LIFE
2D • Sunday, July 12, 2009 • The Paducah Sun
paducahsun.com
Stepfather must take steps to keep boy from becoming abusive adult
BRADLEY: Thanks to readers, and sources CONTINUED FROM 1D
ANNIE’S MAILBOX With Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column.
him act out. Yes, some of his personality could be inherited, but the environment in which a child is raised makes a huge difference in whether those traits are emphasized or not. Before this situation deteriorates further, we urge you to get family coun-
seling. You are a father figure to this boy, and how you respond to him could determine the type of man he becomes. Please don’t give up on him. Dear Annie: When I recently gave birth to twin boys, a good friend of mine collected money from all the ladies in the neighborhood to buy me a baby gift. The gift turned out to be baby clothes, but every single item was extremely worn out and some were at least 10 years old. A few of the items were pink and obviously for girls. Some were so large they won’t fit my boys for two or three years. I know it’s the thought that counts, but weren’t these other women taken advantage of? They don’t know she took their money and then raided her daughter’s closet. Should I say some-
thing? — New Mom. Dear Mom: Are you sure the friend collected money for a gift? Perhaps she collected used clothes from these neighborhood women. You can address this with
your individual thankyou notes, saying how much you appreciate the “donated clothing” and how cute the boys look in their “pink onesies.” If there’s a problem, they will take it up with your
friend.
Please e-mail your questions to anniesmailbox@comcast. net, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, P.O. Box 118190, Chicago, IL 60611.
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Dear Annie: I’ve been married to “Susan” for three years. She has a 9-year-old boy from a past relationship. The father has a bad temper and a drug problem, and was verbally and physically abusive. I now see the 9-yearold with the same traits. He gets in trouble at school and argues with his mother and me. Susan and I have a 2-yearold son. I love kids and could not wait to have a child I could call my own. I initially had the same feelings for the 9-year-old, but with his temper and constant lying, I find myself slowly drifting away from him. His grandparents make the situation worse by not caring how he behaves in school or at home. He lies, tells them all kinds of stories and gets away with murder. Susan and Grandma have arguments about the boy, and many of their fights revolve around me not caring about him. I do care, Annie, but the truth is, I’m tired of the kid’s evil ways. I have a stressful job and dealing with him is not healthy. What can I do? — Proud Father of a 2-Year-Old. Dear Proud Father: No matter how much you claim to care about this boy, it is evident that you favor your biological child and don’t want the 9-yearold around. We guarantee that your negative attitude is coming through to the child, which makes
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it had when I came here. Just sayin’. ■ One last thing: Thanks to all the readers, sources and subjects who have been part of my time here at the Sun. Most of you understood I had a job to do, and I hope I did it as well as I could. So now, again, our hearty little band is heading off to build a new home in a new city. I can only hope we find it as welcoming and accommodating as our past stops. And be nice to the new guy or gal, whomever they turn out to be. I hope they’re as lucky as I’ve been.
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C.D. Bradley is The Paducah Sun’s former assistant city editor.
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