I.

There is a story. It begins with a young boy. His attempts to court a certain young girl are continually thwarted. He knows that she spends her evenings knitting on a balcony overlooking her estate’s lake. The boy devises an infallible plan to win her heart. As evening approaches, he removes his clothing and dives into the lake beneath the girl’s balcony. He arranges for a meeting in the lake between himself and two gorgeous swans. He embraces the swans and strikes pretty poses with them in the moonlight. He sees something mythic and majestic about his aquatic posturing with the birds. His knitting maiden sees him swimming each evening with the swans and her heart swoons. They soon marry.

II.

There is another story. A woman finds her home dull. She decides to purchase an ottoman to chase away the domestic doldrums. She opens a Pottery Barn catalog where she finds a picture of the “Sullivan Leather Ottoman” sitting robustly on a Persian rug and surrounded by tasteful, yet subdued décor. The hardwood legs have a walnut stain, and the cushion is aniline-dyed top-grain leather. It looks like it could have belonged to her grandmother and therefore appears meaningful. It was manufactured three months ago. She buys the ottoman and has it delivered to her front room. When friends come over, they marvel at her purchase and ask from which quaint antique shop the ottoman was purchased. The woman just smiles.

III.

There is one last story. A young man enters an art gallery. He surveys the field of art ahead of him before carefully considering each piece individually. Assuming a posture of contemplation, he massages his chin with his hand to show that he is seriously pondering the work in front of him. He spends the afternoon under the gallery lights, posing in front of each artwork. He sees his in-depth focus on the work as highly intellectual and refined. He catches the eye of the gallery guard who has been quietly sitting in the corner attending to her knitting. He questions her about purchasing the artwork made up of a small tower of matchsticks. She swoons at his appreciation of the finer things in life. They soon marry.

Note: These three stories are excerpts from the Lori Miles exhibition brochure I’m working on.