She was an insider, I am an outsider. She was a liberal who identified herself as a socialist. I read National Review and think Ronald Reagan was the best president of my lifetime. She was a San Miguel county commissioner and a former Telluride mayor, I am a woodsy. Obviously, Elaine Fischer and I were not two peas in a pod. Despite our many differences we were friends. When she passed away on Memorial day I felt the loss. Judging from the turnout and emotions a saw and experienced at her memorial a few days ago, so did many of you.
We were brought togeather nine years ago when I first rented studio space for painting at the Stronghouse on South Fir . She had a studio there for almost as long as Stronghouse had been rented by Telluride Arts to give artists a place to create. I well remember my first show there. The opening night art walk was well attended but sales were slow in coming. Elaine had noticed a couple from Arizona who were attracted to a particular painting of mine. As I recall it was a twilight scene of a moon rise over Ajax with Telluride tucked in its valley beginning to show it's lights. More memorable than that painting was the sight of Elaine with her arm around the woman, literally dragging the couple back into the gallery after they'd left, convincing them they they needed to buy this painting, as they of course did. Salesmanship and artistic talent are not always present in the same person. Many an artist can be glad that both traits existed in her especially when that moxie was channeled in your behalf.
Her approach to painting was a lot like her overall approach to life. In the words of Marissa Mattys at that recent memorial, she had " tenacity and focus" to an unusual degree. I often watched her paint . Her commitment was total. Her concentration was unflinching.
A show she hung one year was made up entirely of self portraits. These were not flattering self portraits. She was exploring her subject, revealing it untainted with sentimentality or romanticism. She called the show "Vanity". The title was not fitting in my estimation. I suppose she meant it to be ironic.
Last year's show reflected her struggle with cancer. From the cannon of great western art she chose the paintings of several woman and skilfully reproduced them then introduced an unsettling intrusion in the form of the crude ugly charactertures of the modernist painter Guston. The female figures of Delacroix, Franz Hals, Manet, and Sergeant represented life as we'd choose it. The Guston element said that nature perhaps has something else in mind.
She didn't drive. That's different, even around here. Maybe that's a reason she stayed in Telluride after Marks ( her husband) death. This is one of the few places where cars are largely unnecessary. Maybe she stayed because this is a place where an individual can make a big difference if only they have the will. It's not surprising then that she was drawn to politics.
Politics is not the easiest profession. You have to have the ability to sell your ideas. You also have to be able to sell yourself. That's never easy, especially if you have the slightest ego or self-regard, something I'm told politicians have in good supply. As far as I know she never lost an election. I do remember her worrying about losing an election even when it seemed to me that she had it in the bag. She did win pretty overwhelmingly. I don't think Elaine's strengths as a commissioner, or a mayor, or a councilmen were lost on her constituents, even to those of us of another party. She was relentless in the best sense of the term.
When it came to her health that tenacity and focus again came into play. After her diagnosis of cancer she decided that she would do whatever it took to fight it. She would not leave it to the Doctors alone to decide what was best for her and carry it out. She informed herself on the best course of action and made damn sure they carried it out. She stopped eating and drinking most of the foods that brought her the greatest pleasure to concentrate on the foods that would help her body overcame the cancer that sought to destroy her. She wasn't about to take cancer lying down. She wouldn't go down without a fight. That was Elaine from the day I met her, and from what I hear, right up to the end. That was the Elaine we knew. That was the Elaine who touched so many of our lives while she lived among us, some of us ,without our even knowing it. That was the Elaine who left a great big hole in our lives on Memorial day. There is no one quite like her to fill it up again.
We were brought togeather nine years ago when I first rented studio space for painting at the Stronghouse on South Fir . She had a studio there for almost as long as Stronghouse had been rented by Telluride Arts to give artists a place to create. I well remember my first show there. The opening night art walk was well attended but sales were slow in coming. Elaine had noticed a couple from Arizona who were attracted to a particular painting of mine. As I recall it was a twilight scene of a moon rise over Ajax with Telluride tucked in its valley beginning to show it's lights. More memorable than that painting was the sight of Elaine with her arm around the woman, literally dragging the couple back into the gallery after they'd left, convincing them they they needed to buy this painting, as they of course did. Salesmanship and artistic talent are not always present in the same person. Many an artist can be glad that both traits existed in her especially when that moxie was channeled in your behalf.
Her approach to painting was a lot like her overall approach to life. In the words of Marissa Mattys at that recent memorial, she had " tenacity and focus" to an unusual degree. I often watched her paint . Her commitment was total. Her concentration was unflinching.
A show she hung one year was made up entirely of self portraits. These were not flattering self portraits. She was exploring her subject, revealing it untainted with sentimentality or romanticism. She called the show "Vanity". The title was not fitting in my estimation. I suppose she meant it to be ironic.
Last year's show reflected her struggle with cancer. From the cannon of great western art she chose the paintings of several woman and skilfully reproduced them then introduced an unsettling intrusion in the form of the crude ugly charactertures of the modernist painter Guston. The female figures of Delacroix, Franz Hals, Manet, and Sergeant represented life as we'd choose it. The Guston element said that nature perhaps has something else in mind.
She didn't drive. That's different, even around here. Maybe that's a reason she stayed in Telluride after Marks ( her husband) death. This is one of the few places where cars are largely unnecessary. Maybe she stayed because this is a place where an individual can make a big difference if only they have the will. It's not surprising then that she was drawn to politics.
Politics is not the easiest profession. You have to have the ability to sell your ideas. You also have to be able to sell yourself. That's never easy, especially if you have the slightest ego or self-regard, something I'm told politicians have in good supply. As far as I know she never lost an election. I do remember her worrying about losing an election even when it seemed to me that she had it in the bag. She did win pretty overwhelmingly. I don't think Elaine's strengths as a commissioner, or a mayor, or a councilmen were lost on her constituents, even to those of us of another party. She was relentless in the best sense of the term.
When it came to her health that tenacity and focus again came into play. After her diagnosis of cancer she decided that she would do whatever it took to fight it. She would not leave it to the Doctors alone to decide what was best for her and carry it out. She informed herself on the best course of action and made damn sure they carried it out. She stopped eating and drinking most of the foods that brought her the greatest pleasure to concentrate on the foods that would help her body overcame the cancer that sought to destroy her. She wasn't about to take cancer lying down. She wouldn't go down without a fight. That was Elaine from the day I met her, and from what I hear, right up to the end. That was the Elaine we knew. That was the Elaine who touched so many of our lives while she lived among us, some of us ,without our even knowing it. That was the Elaine who left a great big hole in our lives on Memorial day. There is no one quite like her to fill it up again.
