OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2015
Motherhood as a work of art, creating a legacy of love
A
painting is just tinted paste
arranged on a blank surface.
If the artist is inspired, this
ounce or two of gunk slathered
on a rough piece of canvas can
blast a jag-
ged shard
of knowing
into our gib-
bering lit-
tle monkey
minds,
or
make tangi-
ble the hid-
den wishes
Matt
and visions
Winters
invisibly im-
printed within the fabric of our
dreams. Show me a person’s
favorite paintings and you’ve re-
vealed their depths, if they have
any.
When we met, my wife,
Donna Marie Magnuson, told
me of her love for the lush beau-
ty and brushwork and accessi-
bility of impressionism — one
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an adult was to an impression-
ist exhibit in Washington, D.C.
Encountering post-impression-
ist wallpaper like Van Gogh’s
6XQÀRZHUV in her home might
have doomed our romance —
art snobbery and male-pattern
baldness run pretty strong on my
mom’s side of the family.
Instead, a mother and daugh-
ter reading together in summer
garden surrounded by sun-il-
luminated leaves: A pretty as-
piration made visible. It isn’t
great art, but it is a window into
a great heart, a humble imagin-
ing of that most immeasurably
world-shaking of all relation-
ships, between mother and child.
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and funny son she already had,
but no little girl to teach and read
and talk with while wearing cool
linen dresses on a comfortable
piazza patrolled by kindly bum-
blebees.
Modern people suffer from
debilitating
misconceptions
about power — what to tru-
ly value and what to pass by.
From the 20th century, a con-
ventional image that comes
to mind is of FDR, Stalin and
Churchill laughingly divvy-
ing up post-war Europe at the
Yalta Conference. Earlier cen-
turies had a far better concept.
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life could horribly diverge from
ideal, the most cherished “pow-
er relationship” during most of
Western Civilization has been
that between the Madonna and
child. Setting aside religious
dogma, innumerable images of
mother and baby are for some
the most enduring attraction of
Christianity — echoing founda-
tional human themes traceable
back beyond the last ice age.
Deep within, we understand
the love we get from Mom sup-
plies the fortitude, virtue and
grace that propel us along the
perplexing path from cradle to
grave. Laughter and compassion
exist because they were woven
MATT WINTERS — For The Daily Astorian
A painting captures an idyllic interaction between mother and child.
Deep within, we understand the
love we get from Mom supplies
the fortitude, virtue and grace that
propel us along the perplexing
path from cradle to grave.
MATT WINTERS — For The Daily Astorian
Elizabeth Winters examines her surroundings for potential adven-
tures while mama Donna Magnuson keeps watch.
into us by generations of moth- Elizabeth’s life might have been
a string that slipped through our
ers.
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o when we got the call that less artful in crafting a world
our newborn niece needed a around her. A superstitious terror
mom and dad, there never was grips me at the very imagining
any doubt we would say yes. of her innocent little spirit be-
The answer had already been ing borne away from us into the
painted.
storm-torn sky of unbeing.
Donna held her, babbled back
But she stayed, and this week
at her, found her the funniest pic- turned a lovely 18.
ture books, coaxed our tiny girl
In the beginning, I often wrote
into swallowing hypoallergen- of Elizabeth Saria Winters, how
ic formula drop by tortuously fascinated and unafraid she was.
recorded drop. Light as a kite, I’ve only ever had the one, so
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claim little expertise, but I pic-
ture babies turned inward and
most comfortable when shielded
from the oncoming experiential
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and sensations. However, from
the start Elizabeth made it clear
she wanted to face the world.
Enfolded in my arms, she watch-
ful as a huntress, we strode to-
gether through enchanted days
when miracles were freshly
created just for us — mud pud-
dles made for sitting in, river-
side roads to practice toddling,
red-bellied newts to rescue from
the rain, roly-poly caterpillars to
tickle daddy and bug mama.
The times she scared us to
death are outweighed a thousand
to one by all the ways in which
she brought us to life. Even
newspaper editors have a little
sense and so these stories mostly
went unreported. But I am grate-
ful for all the ways in which she
lured me into true existence.
C
onsciously and deliberately
setting about creating a safe
place for this child and husband
to each grow up is an act of in-
calculable generosity.
The romanticized fantasy of
creating a bond with a daugh-
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aspects to it that strike me as
almost unimaginably scary and
hard. The mother that lives un-
der my roof is, by far, her own
harshest critic, determined to
alter the course of destiny by do-
ing everything right that her own
sad, beautiful, sometimes cruel
and addled mom got wrong.
Donna is an artist working
with living beings precious to
her. There is no scraping the
paint off the canvas and start-
ing from scratch. This is her one
chance to live up to her own ex-
pectations.
And to do so with ever-wors-
ening health must feel like trying
to keep your loved ones on a life
raft while you yourself silently
sink ever deeper into bottom-
less icy water. What astounding
courage.
Donna wonders, as perhaps all
good mothers do, what her lega-
cy will be. ,I,GLHQRZZLOOP\
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Yes. Please stay with us, but
you’ve achieved what you set
out to do. Good job. Your moth-
ers back to the dawn of humanity
applaud you. Your daughter will
be a great mother. She will tell
her granddaughters of you and
your sweet tooth and sweeter
soul. There is no higher legacy.
Happy Mother’s Day.
—M.S.W.
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Open forum
CCC values art
I
appreciate Rhonda Grudenic’s
letter concerning the role of art
in our lives, and her criticism of
Clatsop Community College’s art
offerings and staff changes (“Art
changes lives,” 7KH 'DLO\ $VWRUL-
DQ May 1).
Except for the drop in offer-
ings between the 2011-12 and
2012-13 years occasioned by the
fiscal cliff the college was facing
— and which affected most other
offerings at the college — our art
offerings have generally remained
constant or slightly increased.
Before state funding was cut by
70 percent, CCC had more than
one full-time art faculty member.
Unfortunately, as is true in the
vast majority of disciplines at the
college, we have had to reduce
sections and even eliminate, or not
fill, positions that have become
vacant.
Nevertheless, CCC maintains a
strong and vital Art Department,
and we remain an important player
in the North Coast art community
with our gallery showings, excel-
lent full- and part-time faculty,
and the myriad of art credit and
noncredit courses.
At the most recent art auction
put on by the CCC Foundation
that she mentioned in her letter, 20
artists will receive commissions
that total $4,064.50.
Should state and other funding
permit CCC to reinvest in core
programs and offerings, includ-
ing art, that would be fantastic.
Until that time, we will continue
to work diligently to identify al-
ternative revenues to support the
Art Department and the arts in our
service area/district.
LARRY GALIZIO
President, Clatsop Community
College
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