18th Century Marrow Scoop

Inspired by the amazing Rob Walker’s Significant Objects Project, Carolyn Bess of Arts & Letters Live at The Dallas Museum of Art, commissioned four writers (I was among them) to create original short stories inspired by objects in the collection.  (See Rob’s blog here Materially Untrue. ) We were invited into the vault where thousands of priceless artworks are stored in a massive underground city. It was overwhelming and thrilling. There were three compelling pieces that stirred my imagination. A painting by Mark Bradford, a woodcut by Käthe Kollwitz and an 18th century silver marrow scoop. Images swirled around in my head, but there was no clear story. In the week that followed my visit to the museum I learned that my friend, the artist Terry Adkins died. I wrote a draft of “Broken Beautiful” in less than 48 hours. His loss was an unexpected element. The story became a place to channel my grief and make peace with our unfinished conversations.