#15 Challenge & Spirit

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Sev­er­al months ago I dis­cov­ered a fan­tas­tic web­site about every­thing ITALIAN. That side of my her­itage is most like­ly where I get my artis­tic tal­ent and most sure­ly my tem­per. (The oth­er half is Ger­man which is prob­a­bly why I’m a design­er rather than a sculp­tor or painter, and very glad I am.)

 
They say you’re either Ital­ian or you love Ital­ian! So this won­der­ful web­site is for all you Ital­ians and those who wish you were: 

 www.italialiving.com

While perus­ing this beau­ti­ful and infor­ma­tive site, I came to a very heart­felt note by the web­site’s founder, Richard J. Michel­li, that his broth­er Ray­mond, 36 years old, had just passed away. He was chal­lenged by Duchenne Mus­cu­lar Dys­tro­phy and con­fined to a wheel­chair most of his life. 
 
Then I read the sen­tence that tore my heart out, as it remind­ed me of some of my own friends who were phys­i­cal­ly challenged: 

Ray­mond was admired for his endur­ing resolve to tran­scend his lim­i­ta­tions and live each moment to the fullest, as he put a smile on the face of every­one he met.” Each and every attribute applies to those friends I know per­son­al­ly who are so accept­ing, so per­se­ver­ing, so full of spir­it in spite of their debil­i­tat­ing chal­lenge. I need look no fur­ther, I real­ized, than the words post­ed by Ray­mond’s friends, as well as his obit­u­ary, to cre­ate my Amper­Art trib­ute. Every sin­gle word on this piece is tak­en ver­ba­tim from those sources.

Feb­ru­ary, with its cel­e­bra­tion of Valen­tines Day and Pres­i­dents Day, is the month of love, courage and deter­mi­na­tion. With those val­ues in mind, I hon­or the incred­i­ble spir­it of phys­i­cal­ly chal­lenged indi­vid­u­als, in the form of my lat­est Amper­Art piece, “Chal­lenge & Spirit.”

You may down­load and print a copy of “Chal­lenge & Spir­it” for print­ing and fram­ing – just click on the image above. You’ll find print­ing and fram­ing sug­ges­tions here.

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