Sayonara

by Alden Cole on March 10, 2014 · 0 comments

gouache on blue cardboard, 24″ x 22″ • collection of the artist

SayonaraWP1961. Back-tracking to spring of my junior year at TA — Prom Time with the theme Sayonara. Despite the fact that I wasn’t supposed to dance, the dancer in my heart volunteered to help the prom committee composed of friends prepare for the annual spring rite which the junior class hosted for the outgoing seniors. A singular surviving accomplishment for the event was this poster of a Geisha in the stereotypical submission pose. My memory of its creation, as well as how and where the poster was used, has come up with nothing, except a vague memory of a National Geographic cover which inspired the Geisha. Like most memories from that many years ago, they are more likely to be stimulated by photos that captured the moment.

Sandy&BruceWPSpeaking of moments captured on film, my other prom accomplishment was painting a mural which was used as a backdrop for the de rigueur ritual of photos ops of posed prom couples in front of my painted illusion of a Fuji-esque mountain; as shown in the photo at left of friends Sandy Dolby with future husband Bruce Taylor. There’s that moon making an appearance again creating a path of sparkle across the water; or is it a sun doing that, since both orb and reflection are yellow? Whatever, I did not attend the prom because my family-indoctrinated religious scruples against dancing ruled the day, and I tended toward acquiescence rather than rebellion. Besides I wasn’t dating anyone; for reasons that I wasn’t even acknowledging to myself at the time.

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