My mom could befriend a piece of concrete.
ArtPark in Lewiston is our local cultural center – a place to enjoy music, lectures, plays, and art of all sorts, including art installations created by resident artists each year. Betsy loved ArtPark. She frequently enjoyed live theatrical performances, musical concerts, dance, and the creation of visual, performance, and other experimental art, all set along the natural beauty of the Niagara Gorge and River.
ArtPark is family and Betsy engaged in as many opportunities as possible to be with and bring family to ArtPark (including one summer when Jennifer was an artist-in-residence!). We often practiced the art of walking through the grounds to enjoy the many forms of installation art – birds along the river, the percussion garden, picnic table and four benches, striped painted parking lot, brick path, ArtEl, Emerald Grove, upside down mirror, sundial, vistas and views, and always a fun surprise or two.
That’s where we all met Ruby. She was a mirrored and sequined lady in a colorful dress, who showed up at ArtPark one summer and sat in her chair in the midst of the summer mayhem. Distinctive, enticing, and approving of all the artistic antics around her, Ruby remained mysterious, quiet, cold, and impossible to know – a concrete sculpture bejeweled with all things shiny, including ruby-red lips and a lapful of broken mirrors.
Limited communication and an unknown past did not stop Betsy. She opened herself to Ruby and all she represents. We walked to and visited Ruby in the forest many times during that summer – early 1980’s? At season’s end, the artist acknowledged that Ruby was not considered a permanent installation and thus, Ruby was about to be let go, cast out alone into the world.
That is where Betsy stepped in to take their friendship to the next level by inviting Ruby home to live with her in Lewiston. No evidence remains as to how Betsy convinced whoever she did to go to ArtPark, likely in the dead of night, and utilize all efforts known to humankind to bring Ruby home. Of course, Betsy and crew were successful.
Ruby became our silent host, our doorwoman, and our garden guard, stoically sitting outside the side door of our home in all weather, welcoming us and all visitors into our home. Betsy wasn’t satisfied just going to and participating in ArtPark – like family, she brought ArtPark home with her. Ruby remains a dear friend of the family and the Niagara Falls community-at-large, living comfortably at the front door of The Book Corner, a sparkling and mischievous welcome for all, like a smile from Betsy.