Roses out of Clay

"When I was a young girl living in Laie, Oahu, Hawaii my mother Olive was taking an art course at the Church College (BYU Hawaii).  They were challenged to do a clay project and my mother decided to make ceramic roses.  She sat me and my sisters beside her and showed us how to create the center of the rose and then to make the wrapping petals one at time and attach them carefully around the center.  Each petal was put on so as not to squish the shape.  Each petal getting larger and overlapping the previous one.  Through the years I have repeated this project.  I taught my own daughters this.  Later when I attended Brigham Young University in Utah I was required to take a  sculpture course myself to complete my BA degree in Visual Art and like my mother elected to create a rose.  It was a supersized version.
Today I have an art school with 400+students and for mothers day this year just a few weeks before my mothers passing my wonderful teachers at the ART house and I guided the students through this project so they could create a beautiful rose for their mothers.  The results were magnificent as the photo of just a few shows.  The mothers were thrilled. I sent a copy of this photo and a hand drawn rose in a card telling her about  her project. How it touched so many lives and would continue to do so, a legacy.  The letter arrived a day later then her passing.  Although it saddened my heart that she never got to see how her legacy lives on.  I am so grateful for the caring, sharing woman that she was to take the time to show me art projects such as this. It was her strength as a developer that made me feel capable of going to college and getting my degree in art and owning an art school. "
 -Anita Robbins