After the Storm “Why”:  My Story, Julie Kinkade

Emerging from the basement of the Landmark Building, where I had sought shelter for an hour and a half, while some 90 mph winds ravaged Farnam Street  and the Omaha SummerArts Festival last summer, I was shocked to find what was left of my tent and my ceramic pottery.  In all my 31 years of doing art fairs, I had never experienced such a catastrophe.  Several artists rushed in to help literally pick up the pieces, while I debated with myself whether to continue or not.  My mood was pretty grim, until a fellow artist coop member and jeweler Lisa Maciejewski suggested that I consider taking the shards and make mosaics with them.  Another coop member Diane Mattern added her metalry and concrete knowledge and the three of us started on the project.

It was easy convincing the other coop members of the Old Market Artists Gallery to make this a fundraiser event. Since the award winning artists at the SummerArts Festival voted to donate their prize money to the Scouts for their heart breaking loss at the Little Sioux Boy Scout Camp earlier that June, I decided that any money raised by the collaborative mosaic art should go to that cause.  My own 2 sons had gone to the camp on the way to their Eagle Scout Badges, and Diane is also involved with Scouting, so it seemed natural.

We have had an inspiring time transforming the pieces into birdbaths, masks, and sculptures, to name a few. So far, we have created about ten pieces, and keep getting more ideas.