A post to our Facebook friends:
Friends,
As many of you know, Rob’s mother passed away in March. The
circumstances and financial situation did not allow for a traditional
funeral service. We had a small gathering of family and his mother’s
body was cremated. It was decided by the family that they wanted her
cremains to be brought here to our property- along with her brother’s
ashes (Uncle Jimmy passed away 5 years ago). About 10 days after her
passing, a small white box containing her cremains was delivered by hand
from our mailman...and today, we have two small white boxes sitting on
top our refrigerator. Although the family had discussed us planting the
ashes with new trees, we haven’t yet set the proper space or have had
the readiness to do that.
Also as you may know, in a turn of
events with our
sawyer friend- we have been assisting in the development
of his
casket company. That exposure has us learning a lot about the
death care industry. The funeral business is changing and they are
taking note of the rising increase in the people doing cremation by
choice or out of financial necessity. In some areas of the country,
cremation rates are 70+% and people are opting for life celebration
ceremonies over traditional funerals and their associated costs.
As a result, Rob has had many conversations with people interested in
urns. In doing some research about urns, we discovered that there are
many choices for funerary vessels, but not many that reach “outside of
the box” per se…. spanning the financial spectrum, there are many
beautiful clay, glass, metal or wooden urns and boxes out there- but
that’s just it, the choice is a basically a vase or a box. It is
difficult to find a very personalized urn…a figurative vessel that
visually represents a person’s essence…something uniquely precious for
their loved ones. This point brings to mind prior
sculpture work we created as a special memorial.
In 2006, our buddy Ron passed away. At the
time, we spoke with his wife Kathy about doing a sculptural urn for her.
Ron had a big personality and he loved to fish… it was decided that she
wanted a bigmouth bass fish for his cremains. Eight years later, that
urn still sits mounted like a trophy on the wall of their home. Placed
under a covered porch, it overlooks the beautiful country property they love so much. We know Ron would think it is a
hoot that his remains ended up in that clay fish…he was just that kind
of guy. Kathy recently shared with us how the fish urn still gives her
comfort, being able to look up and know he is there with her.
So, where is all of this going- now that we have gone full circle? You
guessed it…we want to do sculptural urns. Applied art with special
function and sentiment, something that loved ones can always keep- to
display in remembrance….a unique memorial that can have infinite
possibilities to reflect the personality, hobbies or interests of the
individual.
We now have better ideas for memorializing the cremains of Rob's mother and uncle, and will we'll be making special urn sculptures to represent them. Our intention is set with this idea… we get teary-eyed at the thought of such a beautiful purpose- we can't imagine a greater honor for our art, than to be of service to families in this way.
Do you have one of those small white
boxes that you have been waiting to do something with? Do you have a
friend that might be comforted by this service we can provide? Please contact us if you would like to share your thoughts
or to create a special memorial for a loved one.
Abundant blessings,
Rob & Jamaica
