Page 117 - Demo

uring the year John and I each turned 60, I suggested it was time to make our final arrangements. There was no morbid premonition concerning our demise, it just seemed like the responsible thing to do. So, we set about updating our wills,making pre-need cremation arrangements at a mortuary%u2014and we purchased an urn, a burial plot, and a monument. Like everything in our lives, art was an important factor in our pre-planning. If I%u2019d still been working in ceramics, I would have made our companion urn (a vessel large enough to hold the cremains of two individuals) myself. Instead, we decided to purchase a one-of-a-kind, handmade, ceramic pot. I learned online that one pound of body weight yielded one cubic inch of ashes, so we knew the capacity of the pot we needed. In an artists%u2019 co-op gallery in nearby Nashville, we found what we were looking for%u2014a unique piece that was quite tall with an earthy, but elegant, design. Thrown on a potter%u2019s wheel, it has been partially shaped by hand, except at its top and base which retain a thrown look. The upper and lower sections are finished with a high-gloss brown glaze, while the much larger middle portion has a matte-brown glaze and is covered in a complex sgraffutuo texture. We took our new urn to a hardware store and bought an attractive natural cork to seal it. Next, we selected our final resting place%u2014which was based on a dream I%u2019d recently had of a lovely, peaceful cemetery that I didn%u2019t recognize. It had a small circular drive with large trees around it, and more trees were scattered across on the grounds. Over several days, we visited most of the cemeteries in the area, but none seemed right for us, nor did any match my dream. Then, while speaking with a young woman at the office of Bloomington%u2019s city-owned Rose Hill Cemetery (which was nearly full), she asked if we%u2019d considered White Oak Cemetery. It had been a pioneer Presbyterian cemetery, but the city had recently begun making plots available to the public. Quickly, we drove to White Oak, which was only a few blocks away. It was nestled along a side street in a sedate, older, residential area. Locals used it like a park to jog, walk, or exercise their dogs. When we entered, I was stunned%u2014it was exactly the graveyard I%u2019d pictured in my dream. Within an hour, we%u2019d bought a plot under a huge white pine adjacent to the paved drive. We already knew what our monument would be%u2014a giant Art Deco swan. We%u2019d seen two striking versions down in Floyd County on photography trips. One had been carved in limestone, the other in marble. While admiring them, I%u2019d said to John, rather jokingly, %u201cYou know, I wouldn%u2019t mind being dead if I could be buried under a giant swan.%u201d The monument company%u2019s small nameplate was attached to the back of one, and I made a note of it for future reference. Now was that future, and John phoned the New Albany monument dealer, who knew exactly the swans we were referring to. Even though we didn%u2019t live in the area, he said us he%u2019d be happy to work with us, so we drove down to his shop and sat with him and his son (Paul and Paul) at their office computer. Together, the four of us agreed on a suitable size for the swan, the base design, and the information we wanted inscribed. With these preliminaries completed, Paul Senior took a series of photographs of the existing stone swans and sent them, with all the necessary measurements, to their carver in China. His instructions included using a light gray, rough-textured granite for the swan, and polished black granite for the base. After several months, Paul Junior delivered the two massive pieces to Bloomington, and installed them atop our plot in White Oak. Immediately, we fell in love our swan%u2014as we thought we would. But it%u2019s not just our personal grave marker, we wanted it to be a special gift for all Bloomington residents to enjoy. And it has been, because we often find it decorated with artificial flowers. A friend (who is an attorney and will be our executor) asked if it was OK to have lunch there, while parked in his car. %u201cOf course!%u201d we said, %u201cWe do that all the time ourselves.%u201d And beyond being a beautiful piece of sculpture, we hope our swan will inspire people to take risks and opt for less common choices which, if they%u2019re true and correct for themselves, will enhance all areas of their lives.Finally, in updating our wills, we decided to bequeath almost our entire estate to Indiana University%u2019s Public Television and Radio stations, where a John and Lynn Bower Endowment for the Arts will be established. It%u2019s purpose will be to fund programming centered on fine visual arts, photography, and crafts. We want to increase viewers%u2019 awareness of how the visual arts can truly enhance their lives in many unexpected ways. The station already has our endowment logo on file, which I designed.As I%u2019ve repeated many times, art and creativity have been central to my life. It helped me as a child live through emotionally uninspiring, often unhappy, sometimes cruel, family situations. Art gave me hope for a better future by exposing me to a few very special people who lived singular, creative lives, outside the box of convention. Because of them, I learned how there really were alternatives, and they could be happy, fulfilling ones. As we%u2019ve grown, art has influenced nearly everything about the lives John and I have led%u2014including how we%u2019ve designed our homes, furniture, landscaping, clothing, jewelry, food, books, and on, and on. Together, our deepest desire is to leave behind a legacy that will influence others to strive for unimagined possibilities%u2014long after we%u2019ve left this earthly realm.