The joy that this young black girl sings of is joy for the place from which she has come and the place of glory and honor to which she goes. We all should be able to sing for joy as we contemplate our lives. Some have had greater hardships to overcome, some imposed by society, some by family, and some by self and yet there is a joy to life if we allow it to be.
I feel blessed that my journey has been one encompassing far greater things than I could ever have expected from my humble upbringing in a rural area outside Columbus, Ohio. Neither of my parents had a high school education--yet I earned a Ph.D. Neither of my parents traveled outside a radius of more than 200 miles--yet I have traveled the world. My parents always lived in Ohio, my father in a "holler" close to Bidwell and my mother in Columbus, than a married life outside Columbus. I have lived in several different parts of this great country.
I have been blessed in many ways. In spite of his own upbringing in a poor family of 13 in southern Ohio Appalachia, my father recognized the value of education and always encouraged more of me. My becoming an artist is a minor miracle in my eyes. There was very little art in our home, only a calendar or perhaps some plaster of paris statuettes. I never painted until I was 24 and that only by accident, a requirement in an elementary education methods curriculum which I took after obtaining a B.A. with a major in French. What does one do to earn money with a French degree? I have been blessed in so many ways. This young girl sings a song of joy for herself, for me, and for all of us.
A Song of Joy, Monotype, 5X 2" (image size), matted, unframed, $50 USD
www.charlotteshroyer.com
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