Memorial Day is coming up. It’s the day, five years ago, that I met Mabel and her husband Bart. We both had booths next to each other for the Memorial Day craft fair at Natural High in Lakeport. Mabel had set up to sell her fused glass earrings and beadwork sun catchers using brightly colored beads and prism balls. Bart set up to sell his glaze porcelain pottery with crystalline glazes. I fell in love with the bowls he made; such unique glazes. In fact I fell in love with the couple. We’ve been steadfast friends ever since.
I did several more craft fairs where I sold my photography. The photos didn’t run off the displays but they did sell. A famous person in Lakeport bought two for their new office, many others sold to people who liked my elephant and baby, my lake scenes and photos of Sri Lanka. The elephants was hands down the most popular.
The Kelseyville Pear Festival was especially fun. Besides drawing one of the biggest crowds, there were lots of different booths to look at. I asked a fellow to help me set up and I guess he got his wires crossed because when I asked him to move a box, he said, “Can’t you do it?” Oh well, live and learn.
The fairs became increasingly difficult for me to set up and break down on my own and like the fellow at the Pear Festival, it was difficult to find help, so I stopped doing the fairs. Too bad there wasn’t a group of workers for hire who were there just to help put up and break down.
I’ve been digging through my external hard drive looking at my Sri Lanka photos and am still gobsmacked at how beautiful that island is. Someone suggested that I do an exhibition of them in Lake County. I had four exhibitions in Sri Lanka. I got sponsors for each of them because the cost of printing and framing was expensive. And what to do with ones that didn’t sell? No thanks, I’d rather not go through all that again.
Having said that, the exhibitions were pretty spectacular. They were set in great spaces and many people attended them. My first exhibition was in the upstairs of a center known for art. I had all the photos (125 of them) named and priced. I also had several young women, dressed in saris, helping with the sales. It was a two-day exhibition and on the second day I could barely walk. When the American Ambassador to Sri Lanka and his wife came, I rose slowly from my stool, smiled and painfully walked them around the room; no matter what, the show must go on. I collapsed after they left, but I made it through to the end of the exhibition.
Turns out I had dengue fever and spent the next week in the hospital.
One interesting tradition that I didn’t know about was that if someone was invited as a VIP guest, they’d say something about the artist and the exhibition. The surprise was, they also must buy a piece of the art. Such a nice tradition. My VIP guest Malinga Herman Gunaratna, a tea plantation owner, bought a photograph of a dead tree. He liked my photography so much that he used one of them for the cover of his book, entitled “Tortured Island.”
Herman was a great friend during my time in Sri Lanka. I met former Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, through Herman and went to an intimate gathering at the Foreign Minister’s house. The man was very easy to talk with and made me feel welcome and as if I was important to Sri Lanka. It was extremely shocking and sad when he was assassinated. I went to Kadirgamar‘s house for the “viewing.” After paying my respects, I settled on a couch on the porch along with others, when the porch doors suddenly burst open and men came out carrying his coffin. I was pushed to the side and fell, but being the photographer/journalist I am, I clicked off a bunch of frames from the floor.
I went to the funeral pyre as part of Herman’s group and very briefly I was separated from them as they passed through a barrier of soldiers. Fortunately one of Herman’s group, a general, saw me and ordered the soldiers to let me through. After that I stuck to them like glue. Amazingly I sat right behind a group of VIPs that included a past president, the current president and many political people (taking photos when I could).
I have so many stories to tell, so many photographs to show.
What’s a girl to do?…keep reading, you’ll find out!
Lucy Llewellyn Byard is currently a columnist for the Record-Bee. To contact her, email lucywgtd@gmail.com
