Tuesday, August 16, 2016

SOMETHING'S MISSING


This little Oaxacan goat family recently arrived in my mailbox---I ordered them from the National Museum of Mexican Art, in Chicago. My parents had a dairy goat herd when I was a child, and I have a special fondness for those animals, so when I heard of this work of art, I could not resist. But when I unwrapped the figures and set them up...something was missing. I didn't know what.
Adding to the mystery was a separate little parcel containing..."Of course! Tails!" I thought. I'm familiar with these wooden Mexican folk art creatures; many figures have detachable tails. 
Except these goats were sitting down---there was no room for a tail. Nor a place to attach the tails. And besides, this is not what goat tails look like. "The museum made a mistake," I decided, and I wrapped up the tails and mailed them back. A few days later I received a phone call from the Museum. "We did not make a mistake," said the Museum."Those are not tails; they are..."
..."horns!" And suddenly, something was no longer missing. Just so, in creating a piece of art, there is that one small element or addition that---sparked by some stray comment or idea---can make all the difference.

6 comments:

  1. OMG--I was thinking of this just the other day that I thought I saw a little hole in one of the goats but figured something got lost as so often happens. Just love them more now!! Cathy

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    1. And for some reason I did not even notice the little holes in their heads until hearing back from the Museum. They are now PERFECT!

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  2. Perfect. Did you decide which stripes belonged to each goat? I love the pairings. Those goats have earned their stripes. And so have you.

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    1. There was no indication as to which horns went with which goat! Though I did figure that the smaller set belonged to the child. For the others---they're interchangeable!

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  3. Great story! I guess the museum sent the goats back to you, Wendy! Love the stripes and the brilliant colors!

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  4. The colors and the imagination in the little works of art like these from Oaxaca, Mexico, are always superb!

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