April 14, 2024 is a day of two personally important anniversaries. 40 years ago today, my not yet husband George and I bounced our way into Baltimore City MD in a wobbly U-Haul truck and without a clue about the reality of what lay in store for us . We had burned our bridges to a crisp when we left the place we were at. There was no way we were going to turn back. We figured that by going into a new city we had no knowledge of, our senses would be sharper. We would notice chances to get ahead in a strange place than a familiar one.
The result is that George died as a homeowner, which he never thought possible. We moved into it in 1987. He had 15 years to live in what was truly our house. I'm still there. I will be for at least another 10 years barring accidents. I will continue to turn it into the Lean Green Rowhouse Machine of my dreams.
The second anniversary is even more pivotal, not just for me, but for people in my town. Perhaps to the nation as well.
April 14, 2013 is the day I painted the first portrait in what has become the art activist project, the Million Gun Victims March. I painted this 3 year old boy in a mad frenzy in one 20 hour session. This frenzy was left over from the rage I still felt after Congress couldn't even pass a nationwide gun safety check after 20 children and 6 adults were mowed down in 4 minutes at Sandy Hook in December 2012.
The little Marcher looks happy.
The latest one of 15 year old Braylon Gannon is not quite complete. When I finish his portrait, he becomes the 250th Marcher to join the crusade.
Eleven years, 250 portraits. I've painted single portraits, doubles, triples, group portraits of 4,5,6,8,9, and 11. I'm working a massive undertaking of a group of 21, covering 4 large canvases, which will take me a couple years. The ages of the Marchers has spanned 97 years to 8 weeks old. Though I concentrate mainly on my fellow Marylanders, sometimes a story in a different state drives me crazy enough to welcome them to my easel.
I vow to paint the forgotten and ignored victims of gun violence, people whose stolen lives barely get a mention even in local media. These retablos in oil on canvas are designed to be tools with which survivors and loved ones can own forever, and with which to transform suffering.
No money is ever exchanged. All are meant to be gifted to loved as a labor of love from a stranger. Once the official transfer of ownership document is read and signed by the recipient, the original portrait passes from my hands to loved ones hands forever. I no longer have any control over the piece. The "message" of the painting has been delivered.
But, considering the ideal American family is a core nuclear group whose supposed to live a perfectly cocooned existence, isn't it rude to just paint portraits of people I never met, then ask if they'd like to receive it? Shouldn't I ask permission first?
I don't have time to that. As I enter my mid 60s, every effort to paint these messages while I'm at a peak mustn't be allowed to slip by. Besides, poet John Donne has given his permission. In his poem, "For Whom the Bell Tools" he writes;
"No man is island unto himself,…
Each is part of the main…
Every man's death diminishes me..."
THAT is what I paint. How does this man, this woman, this lad or lass, this child, this baby's death actually diminish me? When a potential Marcher pierces my mind with their unique symbolic image, it becomes a message. THIS is how this person's violent death diminishes me. When anyone else meets the portrait image face to face, they took will realize how their lives are diminished .
Imagine if one million portraits of Americans killed by gun somehow appeared all over the country. Perhaps that's what it takes to ram home the appalling loss we as a country has suffered in a way words can't do.
I am honored to do my part. I refuse to apologize for a labor of love. This is what I do best. I shall offer my best , however modest, in the cause of transforming suffering.
Bodhisattva Brushes of Fury has emerged and will not stop until we get basic federal gun safety legislation passed.
Please check out the MGVM website at:
https://vilomah.life
I'm still uploading imagery to that, but it should give an indication how determined I am. I have a donation site at:
buymeacoffee/KimberlySheridan.
I have a lot of work to do to build that, but it's functional. There's much to do. Many portraits need to go home in the arms they're meant to go. All help is appreciated.
Thank you.