The
Fairy Princess
— A Mostly True Story
By Joel
Haas
I’m a sculptor and this is a story about one of my most unusual
commissions. I write this a day or two before Mother’s Day, and,
as you shall see, that is very appropriate.
Several years ago, I received a
phone call from a lady I had never met who was a professional
garden designer. She had seen my work and wanted to commission a
piece for her own garden.
“I want you to do a memorial piece,” she began, “about my late
daughter. She was six.” My heart sank – I don’t do portrait
work, and certainly not portrait work when I can’t see the
actual subject.
“She was killed in an automobile wreck along with her puppy and
my younger sister who was taking her to the park.”
I told myself, this was a job I did not want.
As if reading my thoughts, she told me, “I don’t want a portrait
of her. And this happened five years ago.” She went on, “I don’t
care what sort of style you do this work in or what medium, but
you do have to use the colors pink and purple.”
“Why pink and purple?” I asked.
“She had a fairy princess outfit that was pink and purple which
she wore while playing in the garden.”
“So,” I asked, “what you really want is a sculpture that evokes
the spirit of your child in the garden?”
“Right,” she answered.
“That,” I told her, “I can do,” although I didn’t have the
faintest idea at the time how.
Over the next few weeks I tried some ideas out – made abstract
sketches, doodles of ultra realistic castings of flowers or
children – none of it seemed right. I was not evoking anybody’s
spirit with these ideas. Finally, I realized, my client knew her
child’s story, but I did not and I never would. I had to write
her daughter’s story anew for myself and work out a sculpture
based on that.
Over the next few days, I wrote a children’s story about a
little girl who meets a real fairy princess and wants to become
one too. Then, I illustrated the story as if I were six years
old.
I had the mother read the story when I was finished. After a
good cry, she looked over the childish drawings I had so
painstakingly made and selected the one she wanted me to
translate into a steel sculpture for her garden.
In time, an eight-foot tall steel Fairy Princess was built and
installed as a memorial in the garden.
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