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Bex Hall > Memoir in Objects > She’s not up a tree, she’s in my heart

She’s not up a tree, she’s in my heart

February 19, 2022

Artwork for McCall’s magazine.

This is the 5th story in the Objects as Waypoints Writing Project series.

Coal River Road, St. Albans, WV

38° 22’ 55.02”N, 81° 51’ 37.404”W

It was early 1969 and even though I was only five years old; I remember with clarity how I created this piece of art.

Grandmother had exclaimed through gritted teeth, “He’s driving me up the tree,” a few times the day I sat down with pen and a strip of paper, so that’s what I drew. I added ladder-like limbs to explain how she climbed the tree. 

While I drew, her earlier aggravation evaporated. She watched me over the top of her horn-rimmed glasses.

The Easter holiday was near, so I added eggs both decorated and plain, on the ground and in the tree branches.

Her smile returned when I gave her caricature a bouquet of inky flowers. She assured me it was okay if I didn’t know how to draw arms. I would learn later.

I added some color and considered it done.


Forty-three years later, I find this envelope with my name on it among Grandmother’s belongings. Postmarked New York, 1969, Grand Central Station and I don’t recognize the handwriting. The return address McCall’s Magazine, 230 Park Avenue. It was previously opened.

Inside was a certificate claiming my membership into the Junior McCall’s Club, just for contributing. And there was my original artwork. On the back, in her handwriting, ”GRANDMOTHER UP A TREE”, the title she chose.

If Grandmother showed me any of this, I don’t recall, but I remembered making the art, the quiet moments beside a woman who encouraged my creativity. Who gave me her undivided attention, her unconditional acceptance.

She who believed in my art enough that it needed to be shared with the world. Or at least the readers of McCall’s magazine.

It wasn’t chosen to appear on their pages, but that’s not what I think about when I look at these objects. 

No, I don’t think.

I feel.

I feel her belief in me. 

The title she chose.

The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”

—Aristotle

Filed Under: Memoir in Objects Tagged With: the 100 day project 2022, the objects

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About Bex

 

Bex Hall

Her writing has appeared in various online and print publications, most recently in Kerning, a literary magazine, and in the Stories of Hope Collection in Transplant Living. Her artwork has appeared and sold through the Grayson Gallery. She blogs here about creative life and creates in Studio BE overlooking the Ohio River. Her work in progress is a memoir about the secret life of objects.

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  • The 100 Day Project

    50 short stories in 100 days.

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  • Creative practice goals:

    Show up every day behind the pen, the brush, or the lens and share my work.

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