Joe Spado's Dream Catcher

Fellow blogger and Shadow Shot Sunday regular, Joe Spado (aka Spadoman-LOL) has been on my mind. He must be watching me from where ever he is-with that Great Spirit in the Sky. Seeing the sun casting a shadow on my bedroom wall of the dream catcher he made for me is what started all this thinking down memory lane. Often, we bloggers never get a chance to meet each other-it's a unique kind of community and friendship in some cases. But, a couple of times, Joe found himself going through New Mexico where I used to live and we met up. Second time around, he had his wife with him. Joe was easy to befriend. He also wrote haikus. He loved to make dream catchers and made them from twigs and real sinew-never perfectly round like those you see in gift shops. Very authentic in my eyes.

I had asked Joe to make me a dream catcher for an art project that I was working on. I had been invited along with 14 other photographers, to participate in a group show-one model, 15 photographers. I needed a dream catcher for my model to hold. In trade, I made him a book from things he sent me-real buffalo fur given to him from a chief with whom he was good friends with. Some red dirt from Sonoma. Some trinkets. I can't remember what else, but I made it into a small book on on each page, I had some of the haikus he had written. I knew in making this little book that it would become a keepsake for his daughter and his grandchildren. I don't know how I knew that, but that was a good part of my intention.

Above is the final image I produced-it is a mixed media encaustic piece and the size is 16" x 20". You can read more about the concept behind this image here.

Pictured above is the front cover of the book I made for Joe. Needless to say, we were both please with what we had created for each other.

Joe passed away about 5 years ago. He truly is missed and was such a special person. And a damned good writer and storyteller! If you visit his blog and look through the older posts-look for his ramblings as they are priceless. So are his haikus. So much talent and gone too soon.

Join us as a group of us (yes-there are many of us!) from around the world post our shadow shots over at Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!