Sculpting Art, Shoes and Life

I assumed it was going to be completely outside of the art circles I had been spinning in since moving to Vancouver

“Sensual Tektonica” was the name of the Art Gala showcasing Rudolf Sokolovski‘s work. I don’t even know what Tektonica means, it was a formal event and it cost me $20 to get in. All of this added up to an uncontrollable urge to check it out. I assumed it was going to be completely outside of the art circles I had been spinning in since moving to Vancouver a year and a half ago, and I was right.

I felt slightly out of place, but I had learned to manage the feeling by finding the friendlier faces in a crowd and gravitating in their direction. 

As I walked up to offer my ticket, I started a conversation with a lovely woman who, I would find out later that evening, was also an import to Vancouver from a small town – granted many years before me. I felt slightly out of place, but I had learned to manage the feeling by finding the friendlier faces in a crowd and gravitating in their direction.

The space was minimalist and focused. The art was classic and sculptural.

I walked in to soft techno music (yes, it’s exists) and models in sky-high heels. On two projector screens there were larger-than-life projections of Sokolovski‘s art. The space was minimalist and focused. The art was classic and sculptural. The people were dressed to the nines and came from a world I had only imagined. The woman I met in line turned out to own an engineering company and works for the UN (sitting in meetings with the likes of Patricia Arquette). I also met a model named Chai, a matchmaking blogger and a fashion consultant at I Have Just The Thing. So this is where they all go! I was mesmerized by this world. A world I had half convinced myself didn’t actually exist.

Now that I’m almost 40 and have faced just about everything I fear most, it didn’t phase me.

Walking back to my car, and driving the 45 minutes home, gave me time to reflect on the surreal evening. There was a time in my life when I would have been completely intimidated by these people with strange and fascinating lives. There was a time when I would have been sure that I stuck out like a sore thumb. This time, now that I’m almost 40 and have faced just about everything I fear most, it didn’t phase me. It felt like an experiment. I felt like I was studying another species I had just discovered.

Small town girl (left), model (centre) and me (right)

The artist (far right) and Mandy Carnahan, Fashion Consultant (centre) with her husband

Although it was a different world … it was exactly the same humanity underneath it all.

I also discovered that although it was a different world, when it came down to a conversation, it was exactly the same humanity underneath it all. The small town girl liked to laugh and had an authentic look in her eyes. The model wanted to see the world, and I was about to do the same once my son graduated from high school. The same kinds of dreams, aspirations and desire to connect was there, just like anywhere else. I smiled as sat behind the wheel of my Toyota Echo, in my thrift-store dress and cheap-ass boots because I knew, in that moment, that this Cinderella had just been to the Ball, and needed no Prince Charming to tell her how blessed she was and that anything, absolutely anything was possible if she set her mind to it.

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