"A man's reach must be higher than his grasp or what's a heaven for." A quote said by Mary in front of one of my large paintings -- one of our shared precious moments together in my studio. And now these same words I send to Mary who engraved the last lines of a Venice wood-cut at her kitchen table the day before she went to hospital. I was to complete it before she went to St. Ives. Her parting words were " I trust you to make any final adjustments."
Mary, my friend, colleague, world traveller and most of all, artist, you returned from these long voyages around the world armed with sketches and watercolors. It was in my studio that we transformed them into wood-cuts over many cups of tea, examinations through the mirror and pondering the image upside down, that you finally made the final woodcut gestures and lines. It is the last completed woodcut called "Dance" that will now travel for Mary. It is on its way to Paris and Tokyo and other places to be named. Her work will be honoured by the Conseil Quebecois de l'Estampe on the cover of their September bulletin. Mary, your prints will travel for you and perhaps you will meet and be together at some place on the journey. Lots of love.
by Bernice Sorge,
Painter and Printmaker
June 11, 1998