Teresa
Kassie Sprague Tayor"When we look into each other's eyes we are looking at God ... not all of God, but an important part. That is why we, as humans are so important to each other."
Al Sprague, Artist Journal, July 3, 1991
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Teresa, 2023
It was in the Fall of 2023, and I just arrived in New Orleans for the week - I made the nine-and-a-half hour drive from Northwest Arkansas so that I could load up paintings for our upcoming virtual showing in December. I had seen photos of many, but Dad had been painting up a storm and Marsha couldn't keep up with taking photos of every piece to send my way. They were all laid out around the house when I stepped in the door. I couldn't believe my eyes - they were all small acrylics, but he had outdone himself once again!
As I looked around the room my eyes fell onto this painting of a single woman leaning up against a wall. The colors and the lighting were spectacular! There was something about the composition that drew me right into it. The next day I began photographing the paintings one by one. When I got to this painting, I told Dad that this one had to stay in the Sprague Family Art Collection because one day it would be in a museum.
This painting reminds me of a quote Aristotle once said, "The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." That is the reason I named the painting Teresa - there are three very strong women in our family with that name and I wanted this painting to stand for their strength and persistance for years to come. Teresa is named after my Aunt Terry, Dad's younger sister who has stood strong after losing her husband and love of her life, my cousin Terry, Dad's niece who fought and overcame colon cancer, and my sister-in-law, Theresa who is one of the strongest women I know.
Today this painting hangs proudly in my living room where I see it daily and think about the strong women that the painting was named after. I still believe Teresa will hang on the walls of a museum one day and remind people how important we all are to one another.