SWIM FREE 2021

"Swim Free (2019)," Montana BLACK spray paint on concrete panel, and "Swim Free (2021)," pole puppet made out of two plastic bowls, red duct tape, wire, cardboard, Montana BLACK spray paint, electrical tape, and aluminum extension pole.

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My mother died on July 10, 2017.

Each 7/10 since 2017, I make art in the form of an octopus, to remember and honor her. 

A couple of days before she died, I painted a small red octopus on the Bremerton Art Walls (where the old Maple Leaf Tavern once stood). In 2018, I painted a larger octopus on the Bremerton Art Walls. In 2019, I painted another octopus on the Walls, but as a limited edition series of four, with the other three painted onto concrete panels, which are in the gardens or flower beds of family members. In 2020, partly due to COVID, the octopus "came off the wall" and became a small linoleum block print for family and friends.

For 2021, Ann the Octopus returned to the Bremerton Art Walls, as part of the second (of four) Bridging Bremerton walks, in the form of a pole puppet. I even had an opportunity to share briefly with those gathered about Ann and commemorating my mother Sandy's life and our connections to the Walls. It was a fun and fascinating walk, filled with Bremerton history as part of the walk, but also for myself and my wife, as we reminisced about our own personal and family histories of times, places, and events in Bremerton.