This handsome brass vase is stationed on a table in my office, filled with dried and naturally dyed corn husk flowers. A seemingly subtle artifact at first glance but grows with meaning and depth as its true symbolism emerges in conversations regarding fortitude, creativity as therapeutic approach, and focused purpose as a mindful means of coping with pain.
You see, this vase is really a vessel. A relic that travels back to World War 1 and holds the stories of soldiers not bouquets. This capsule is a shell casing from a Howitzer, a versatile, short-barreled artillery weapon used in high-trajectory fire that dominated trench warfare. When all was quiet on the Western Front, soldiers and prisoners of war would pass time by shaping these instruments of destruction into instruments of artistic mastery. The fine lines of leaves along its shaft are engraved with a bent nail and designed from a stencil likely bartered for a few cigarettes; a dedicated diligence and industriousness that has come to be known as collectable and coveted Trench Art.
I am astounded by the magnitude of a soldier’s soul to, amongst such ominous terror, find an ember of light – a fire harnessed not for annihilation but restoration. Since cave drawings, art has been a natural component to the human experience. Craftsmanship is a universal language, a cross-cultural therapeutic tool, and a means of restoring a sense of humanity…. even when the world feels far from humane.
Art isn’t limited to war-torn hollow points or impressionistic canvases, it is the way you design your life; it is how you embody and salute the alchemy of grit and grace, a coalescence of the stories that are etched into our own armoring and survived battlefields.
I received this unique piece as a gift intended to honor the therapeutic work that happens in my office. An emblem of resilience, hope, persistence, the potential to extract beauty from chaos and meaning from tragedy so that pain has purpose.
With love, Robin
