Interview of Shawn Marie Hardy, Artist
by Betty Refour for Dreamish.com (added
March 20, 2007)
The interview below may be reprinted
with permission. The interview must contain the links and photos
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[Wendy
Shepherd] I received
a message from Betty Refour of Noteworthy
Crafts, about an interesting project and the person behind
it which would make for a great interview. At the time I was a
little overwhelmed and since the story was inspirational and has
an important message, I asked if she would like to conduct the
interview and she agreed to. Enjoy...
[Betty Refour]
Not everyone can turn a negative into something
positive but that is exactly what Shawn Marie Hardy has done.
At age twelve she was walking home from school and a man asked
if she needed a ride. When she said no, the man was persistent
and he ended up chasing after her. Fortunately, he got caught
in traffic and Shawn got away. She was able to identify the man
out of a lineup of photos and found out that he had been approaching
other girls at the local junior high schools. She was asked to
testify in court but was too afraid of him so she refused.
As the years went by Shawn often wondered what became of the man.
She never heard anything more about him and sometimes felt guilty
for not being able to tell her story in court. After having her
own daughter she wanted to turn those negative feelings of guilt
into something positive by giving back to the community. She wanted
to find a new and unique way to help missing and exploited children
and that is how Our Children: Honor with Art was started.
[Betty
Refour] I
understand you have started a wonderful project called Our
Children: Honor with Art, tell me a little about this project
and the motivation behind it.
[Shawn Marie Hardy] The
idea for this project has been culminating in my mind for many
years now, I just didn't know exactly what I was going to do.
As an artist I started getting heavily into mixed-media, marrying
photo images and text with my paints on canvas, and that expanded
into the idea of doing an altered book. Altered books are such
wonderful pieces of art. I am an avid reader of the magazine Somerset
Studio, which focuses heavily on paper arts and after seeing a
section on altered books I wanted to try one. That's when the
light bulb went off in my head and I thought, why not make this
a collaboration and why not have it be for a good cause. I thought
of the name Our Children: Honor With Art - Our Children
because we are a community - the children are OUR responsibility
as a society; Honor With Art is more obvious - I want
to honor the children through works of art. Being a mom I am naturally
concerned with the topic of child safety but too often we hear
about children who have gone missing. Too often those missing
children never return home. But I am a survivor of a near-abduction
and that is probably the main reason why I'm so focused on wanting
to do something that will make a difference. So I put out a "call
to artists" on several different online forums in mid-October
and so far 80 artists have signed up to donate art. I found a
vintage record album that contained old 78 speed records from
the 1940's. I removed the records and the sleeves in the book
will be covered and filled with art.
[Betty
Refour] This
sounds like a very positive way to deal with your near tragedy.
Tell me a little more about that.
[Shawn Marie Hardy] I
was twelve in 1973. We lived in San Francisco at the time and
I had to walk several blocks to school. It was a direct route,
straight down 17th Street in the Mission District, but there were
a few streets that always seemed to be deserted, even in the daytime.
It was near one of those streets that a car pulled up alongside
me and the man inside asked if I wanted a ride. I said "no"
and continued on. I was approaching the corner of an alleyway
when he turned around the corner, blocking my way. He leaned over
and opened the door, telling me to get in the car. When I declined
he offered money. I ran but he pulled back around and chased me
down the street. At one point he pulled far enough ahead that
I could see his license plate number, which I memorized and still
remember to this day. He followed me for a few blocks, slowing
and accelerating with the flow of traffic, but he ended up stopping
at a light which gave me just enough time to get home. I was terrified
that he might see where I lived, but he didn't. When my mom opened
the door she knew something was wrong. I told her about the incident
and we went directly to the police where I picked the man's face
out of a book of photos. I was shown four more photos and again,
I identified him instantly. I was too afraid to testify, thinking
he might come after me. It was a terrifying experience but I'm
lucky I got away. I never found out exactly what the extent of
his crime was.
[Betty
Refour] You
must have been terrified, but thank goodness for your quick thinking.
You mentioned your step dad was an artist. Is that how you became
interested in art?
[Shawn Marie Hardy] Both of my parents are
very creative people, and my mom's brothers and her mom were both
very artistic too. In fact, one uncle is a kinetic artist in New
York and makes some pretty amazing pieces with moving bits and
things that light up - he even makes tornados.
What probably started the ball rolling was my bohemian
lifestyle after my mom and dad divorced. In 1970 my mom and step
dad loaded us in the car and moved us out west to San Francisco.
We moved into a commune on 10th and Howard Streets called Project
One. It was a big 5-story warehouse that was completely empty
when we moved in. It started out as a group of like-minded people
and we all created our own "spaces" in the building
- some were just one open room and some were more like apartments
with lofts and extra rooms. Each floor shared a bathroom and a
shower. On the first floor, right at the entryway when you walked
in the front door was a place called Fort Help where people came
to get their methadone. It made for a very colorful place with
all different kinds of people in and out every day. There was
a recording studio in the basement and several notable musicians
hung out there. It was mostly people in their late teens and early
twenties, with a handful of older adults closer to my mom's age,
so drugs and alcohol were rampant. It was a bad place for children,
but I have a novel waiting to be written because of it. I was
like the proverbial fly-on-the-wall. I saw and heard everything,
good and bad - things a kid just shouldn't have to deal with.
So to escape my surroundings I read books and created pretty things.
I started cooking and baking when I was nine - I mean full meals;
beading and embroidering at 10; crocheting and knitting at 11,
and sewing at 12. I used to cut people out of magazines and glue
them down to card stock, then cut them out and make stands for
them. I would make houses by cutting out pages from decorating
magazines and gluing them on the inside of a box, then I'd cut
out pictures of chairs, couches, tables, beds, etc., and I would
build little homes for the people - they were my paper dolls.
I did lots of collages then too. I was surrounded by artists and
musicians for the two years that we lived there so I suppose it
was ingrained in me.
I didn't actually start art school until
1993 because I spent year after year searching for the perfect
career. It took many years to work up the courage to just follow
my heart. So finally, instead of wanting to be an artist, I became
one. I was also in a band and I've made two cds as well:)
[Betty
Refour] Oftentimes
children are put in situations that are not the best, I'm glad
to see that you turned your experiences into something positive.
I first noticed your work when you were featured on EBSQ art of
the day with your mixed media piece Flamingos in the Kitchen,
I really like that piece is there a story behind it?
[Shawn Marie Hardy]
There isn't anything profound about it. I had some ancient photos
that I took at the Milwaukee Zoo back in 1986. They have spent
the last 20 years in a box and there are some great images there.
I really loved the pink flamingos grazing on the lawn and snapped
several pictures of them. I pulled those photos out and thought
it might be nice to do a painting of them. I just happened to
have a huge stack of Better Homes and Gardens from the mid-1950's
taking up dust. I flipped through one and saw the picture of the
pink kitchen. I immediately wanted to do something with it so
I imagined various scenes - cats in the kitchen, fairies in the
kitchen, men in the kitchen, and then I remembered the flamingo
photos. Pink flamingos in a pink kitchen - how surreal is that?
So I created the scene, with intentions of doing similar scenes
and perhaps making a book - I actually have a pink bathroom scene
I want to use. Imagine what I can do with those flamingos there.
[Betty
Refour] Tell
me a little about the artists that have contributed to Our
Children: Honor with Art. Have you received contributions
from only US artists or are they from all over the world?
[Shawn Marie Hardy] I'm
really pleased at how this is turning out. I have over 80 names
on the list so far and I'm sure there will be more before the
deadline. I reached far and wide when I put out "calls to
artists". The most logical place to start was in my own online
art community, EBSQ, and I received several expressions of interest
there. Then I went to myspace, etsy, and to various online and
tangible publications like ArtServe of Michigan, Somerset Studio
Magazine, & Variazione (ZNE). I also wrote to people directly.
Several artists have passed the word on to other artists so I
got a few contributions that way as well.
I lived in New Zealand for several years and was in a band there,
so naturally, I had a lot of good connections. Several musician
friends and acquaintances from NZ are submitting work - either
artwork, cartoons, or lyric sheets. I think what I have found
to be true in most cases is that all I have to do is ask and people
are very willing to help.
I have an advantage in knowing people from all over the world.
And those people know people - so you get a trickle-down affect.
I have received work from Japan, Canada, Germany, Scotland, England,
Ireland, and the U.S. I am waiting for works from New Zealand,
and Brazil. It's very exciting.
[Betty
Refour] I
understand you are looking for a live venue for the auction: Have
you had any success with finding a location?
[Shawn Marie Hardy] I want
to avoid having this go to an online venue like eBay. I've been
looking for a live venue, which means I would have to travel.
But since I am the only person doing all the PR work like writing
proposals, letters of interest, newsletters, etc. time is an issue.
I have a home to maintain as well. I am dealing with a disability
right now as well, so it's tough to balance everything and keep
the excitement about the project fresh. I have had little success
in finding a venue to auction the final piece, but that is only
because I have not spent the time looking yet. I have only just
begun the process. I'm starting at the top and working my way
down - so far I have written to Oprah, Montel, and The View inviting
them to use their shows to host a live auction. I'm not holding
my breath, but it was worth a try. I will also be contacting venues
like Christie's and Sotheby's. If they say no, perhaps they'll
have leads and I'll follow up on any leads I receive. I want this
to be as professional as possible. I'm convinced that there is
a philanthropic organization out there who will pick up on this
and run with it.
[Betty
Refour] Tell
me what your goals are for this project.
[Shawn Marie Hardy] My initial goal was to
create funding to help organizations who advocate for missing
and exploited children. Since the project is in full swing the
focus has shifted from money to more of a unification - a bringing
together of people from all over the world to honor life and the
spirit of all children. I want everyone involved in this project
to benefit from it - to be able to say they got involved and it
made a difference, however large or small the difference might
be. I want to create a chain reaction of kindness and to get other
people to realize that all it takes to make things happen is to
start something. Just do it.
Anyone
who is interested in being a part of this project or to learn
more about Our Children: Honor with Art visit http://www.honorwithart.com.
Thanks to Betty Refour and Shawn
Marie Hardy for doing this interview and sharing it through Dreamish.com.
~Wendy Shepherd
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