All American

Back in the early days when emigrants were coming to America to make a life for themselves and their families they learned English, got jobs and worked hard.  Many if not most fit into the US culture and did well.  They are those who makes this country strong and gives the US such a rich culture.  They were not expected to give up the culture they brought with them but to succeed in this new land they understood they also had to recognize the laws of the land and honor national customs such as respect for the flag and the constitution.  This is a nation of emigrants.

I saw an example of this respect by an emigrant for his new country.  JoAnn and I had moved to Tucson and in the process of acquiring a home we found it was easier and less expensive to buy a desirable piece of property and build a home to our specs on it.  After living in the home for four or five years we had accumulated a list of improvements we wanted in another home.  We had such an interesting and inspiring time building we decided to do it again.  The market was such that we were able to make a profit on our custom built home and move on to another building adventure.  This pattern continued through several new homes until we built the ultimate artists home that contained a studio, shop, gallery, guest house, and swimming pool and 6000 square feet of living space.  This was the last home we designed and had built.  After a few years we realized we didn't want to be operating this extensive type of resort and the timing seemed right to put it on  the market.  The housing bubble was starting to loose it's air.  To make this a short story we got out just in time and vowed we would start down-sizing.  We have subsequently owned a new 3000 square foot home as our first step in down-sizing and are now proud owners of a 1500 square foot home built with much of our design input.

In this home building journey we has opportunity to see and evaluate most of the living communities in the Tucson area.  We acquired the site for the 3000 square foot home which at one time had belonged to an old Greek emigrant.  I have been told by a number of Tucson residents about this old Greek who came to this country in poor health and moved to Tucson upon doctors recommendation.  He found the climate did bring him better health and in the meantime he bought up a large tract of land in the foothills, built his home and planted many trees around it.  The new house we bought was across the street from this park-like home he had developed.  He had passed away and left a legacy through his children who now own businesses and live in Tucson.  The property our home was built on had a field stone wall around a portion of it and a 50 foot flag pool set in a corner.  This was all the handy work of the old Greek emigrant.  It is said he and his family would assemble each morning as the flag was raised and recite the pledge of allegiance.  This was his way of expressing gratitude to this country that had given him opportunity.

I have thought about this art piece called All American and in it's design it expresses the concept of America as a melting pot of many cultures and nationalities,  This is even more true now than it was in the early days of the country.  We have people here from every part of the world and this art piece tries to represent this symbolically.  The head is divided into quadrants by the bronze casting.  Each quadrant is filled with a different color resin to depict different colored skin.  Combined into one head, these colors complete the concept that we are all Americans.

More detail can be found on my art at my website <www.apatchablue.com>