"Circle of Life" (Proverbs 11:21)

The September 15, 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama resulted in the death of four African American girls: Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carol Roberson and Addie Mae Collins. They could have been any girls: your sisters, your cousins, your neighbors or your friends. Their childhood innocence was interrupted because the Ku Klux Klan hated the color of their skin. The Shady Grove baptist Church in Leesburg, Georgia was also bombed on August 15, 1962. The brutality of the bombing made childhood innocence a dream deferred. This painting serves as a memorial to the righteousness of those whose lives were sacrificed, in the struggle for equality!

The "Circle of Life" painting represents a connection with others, a connection with other life forms, and a sought after connectedness toward self discovery and healing of fragmented parts. Like the raindrops on the rose the tears shed and flow into known and unknown spaces recreating a life of their own. We heal, we grow, and we change. The train represents freedom as in the old Negro Spiritual "This Train is Bound for Glory." The couplers linking the freight cars of the distant train together are symbolic of the joined hands of these beautiful girls. They represent coming together in a place where it is safe to play games, dance to themes and live life joyously. "Free at Last, Free at Last."

Artist Proofs(1-30)........................$150.00
Signed & Numbered(31-300)............$80.00
Signed Only (only 200 available).......$40.00

Please contact Robert West via mainlinememories@yahoo.com