“To Mom and Dad, somehow you ended up with one artist and one writer and you never told either of us to “Go get real jobs.”
Life Reconstructed Acknowledgments Page
My brother is an artist. He creates things that are crazy detailed and beautiful. There are bull sculptures covered in gold leaf in some glitzy steakhouses across the Midwest. There’s a bumper pool table that lights up in time and pattern with the beat of whatever music it is set to somewhere in Miami. There is an engagement ring on the finger of rapper Jeezy’s fiance Jeannie Mai. And there is a pencil drawn old-time type-writer hanging in my entryway.
And then there is the sculpture pictured above.
Keith created that sculpture when I was going through cancer and he donated it to an Iowa non-profit called Bras for the Cause. It currently travels around the state of Iowa to spend time displayed in cancer centers. The swirling spinning pattern at the base represents the whirlwind of emotions and uncertainty that comes with a breast cancer diagnosis. And the pencil and ribbons symbolize the telling of each woman’s story. It was made in honor of my story, which has been in the works for years, but was officially born into book form on September 28, 2021.
We have a faithful and creative God. It is amazing that stories can be told just as fully with sculpted metal as with creatively arranged words.
If you want to follow along on an amazing artist’s journey, find my brother on Instagram @keithnelsonarts or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/keithnelsonarts.
