Never Forget!

We’re interrupting this blog’s regular programming of political commentary to highlight Bill Sidwell’s gracious contribution to a benefit intended to assist the family of a cancer victim.

My discussion group—we call ourselves Tampa Townhall discussion group—meets at our local Lone Star Steakhouse restaurant for our monthly meetings. This restaurant’s management knows how to contact me because I am the one who reserves the restaurant’s meeting room for each month’s meetings.

A few weeks ago I received a call from a manager at this restaurant. She informed me that one of her colleagues had been struck down by cancer and that the Lone Star restaurants in the Tampa-St-Petersburg area were conducting a fundraiser to benefit the family of the deceased on December 16th. All tips received during the dinner hours would be donated to the deceased’s family. Also, she informed me, an auction benifiting the deceased's family would be conducted at 7PM. The manager was asking that I pass the word to my group and let them know about the fund raiser, its purpose and so on.

Marybeth—another organizer—and myself alerted our group.

One of our members, Bill Sidwell, is an artist and contributed his mosaic, named Never Forget!, to the auction. Here are images of his mosaic:

Bill's Mosaic Never Forget!




The rear view

Due to a conflict, Bill couldn’t make it to Lone Star on the 16th and asked me to deliver his artwork. Bill and I chatted about this mosaic and the techniques he used to create it.

While I’m no artist I am a geek and was quite impressed with Bill’s craftsmanship and attention to detail. Bill has not only demonstrated artistic ability but also a deep understanding of his materials and craftsmanship.

I wrote the following material to help the auctioneer present Bill’s mosaic to the bidders:

This next item is a mosaic. Mosaics are an ancient art form. The earliest mosaics date from three to four thousand years BC and were found in Mesopotamia.

This mosaic—which is named “Never Forget!”—is of an American flag rippling in the breeze. This mosaic is Bill Sidwell’s personal September 11th memorial to the attack that killed more Americans than Pearl Harbor. Created by Bill shortly after 9/11, this mosaic has been widely displayed but has never been offered for sale. Bill Sidwell is now donating this mosaic to this good cause.

The supporting surface that the mosaic’s tiles are fixed to is a whitewood board that has been cut into long sections. Alternating sections were then reversed and all sections were glued back together—similarly to a butcher block cutting board—to form a supporting surface that is highly resistant to warping.

The tiles used in this mosaic are colored bathroom tiles. Bill shaped the tiles using a table saw, a bandsaw, nippers and a sander. During construction, Bill cuts away the tile’s rounded edges so that all of the mosaic’s facets will be flat. Bill also sands the tile’s reverse side so that all of the mosaic’s facets will be level when bonded to the supporting surface. The tiles are bonded to their supporting surface using a cement that will retain its flexibility without becoming brittle. This mosaic is framed with maple-stained whitewood. The artwork’s name and the artist’s signature is on the back.

Creating this mosaic took about two weeks.

Bill Sidwell is a semi-retired mosaic artist who was born, raised and educated in Florida. Bill not only creates mosaics but also teaches this fascinating and ancient art.

Bill’s mosaics have been shown at juried art shows throughout Florida. A juried art show is an art show that only exhibits works accepted by a jury of accomplished artists. This jury ensures that only noteworthy art is presented.

Bill’s work hangs in Paris, Brussels, London, Berlin and Singapore, as well as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas. Bill is honored to participate in tonight’s good cause.

If placed for sale at an art show, this mosaic would be priced at $200.

One of the hard to explain things about our culture is that—to ourselves—Bill’s fusion of artistry and craftsmanship—including his understanding of the underlying material’s characteristics—is considered noteworthy; it shouldn’t be so. We accept the technologist’s obliviousness to the esthetic and the artist’s estrangement from the technology that modern civilization depends on as normal; we shouldn’t. This phenomenon would be inexplicable to the ancient Greeks.

The root word for technology is derived from the ancient Greek word for art, techne. The ancient Greeks didn’t distinguish between artistry and manufacturing; a skilled artisan was assumed to be both an artist and a craftsman. They would be puzzled at today's engineers who routinely create functional—but ugly—designs and would be contemptuous of an artist who's beautiful art was no better constructed than a mud-brick shanty town.

Although Bill’s mastery of his craft is necessary to achieve these results his expertise is not the primary factor determining the outcome. The primary factor is his attitude and approach to his work. Bill has both the artistic ability to see what “looks good” and has the understanding of the underlying methods and materials needed to arrive at good results. The ancient Greeks would have considered Bill a technologist.

Postscript:

People familiar with Robert Pirsig’s rather unusual book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, know how very little I contributed to the last paragraphs in this post.

Bill Sidwell can be reached at:

+1 (813) 997 1307 or

+1 (813) 782 1433 or

JSidwell@TampaBay.RR.com

Update:

Corrected Bill's email address

Update2:

Here is a photograph of Never Forget! being displayed on auction night.

It's a little hard to see, but the black thing above the mosaic is a placard explaining the background and other details about this artwork.


Update3:


Well I’m pleased to announce that Pam Hill, one of our members—and one of my friends—at the Tampa Townhall Discussion group, was the winning bidder for Bill Sidwell’s mosaic, Never Forget! Congratulations Pam!

Pam said that she knew that she had to get this work of art for her daughter’s birthday as soon as she saw it.

Pam with her daughter, Heather, holding their prize.

Pam’s daughter, Heather Hill-Thompson, is a registered nurse in the University Community Hospital’s ICU. Heather graduated cum laude from the University of Pittsburg. Heather attained this academic distinction in spite of her full academic load, being very active in Air Force ROTC for four years and holding down a part time job. [wow!]

Patriotism evidently runs in Pam’s family. Not only is her daughter a proud, patriotic American but her daughter’s paternal grandfather fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Pam’s father was a Chief Security Officer for the 6th Naval District during WWII. Heather's father served in Navy and her uncle was in the Air Force.

Heather will display Bill Sidwell’s mosaic memorializing the September 11th terror attacks on this country on a wall where she displays other items celebrating our country and her love of it. This wall already displays a beautiful painting of the American flag that she inherited from her grandmother, a photo of herself in the cockpit of a T-37 training jet, which she flew during her Air Force field training in the summer of 1994, a framed copy of 'High Flight', and a photo of Ronald Reagan in his cowboy hat (he was her hero).

Bill Sidwell’s Never Forget! will be in good company.

I will give Pam the last word:

I told Heather that night that it will be something that will pass from generation to generation in her family. It is truly a family treasure now!