Through The Eyes
Of A Child

by Lisa Ray

Through the eyes of a deaf girl
Though she sees everything,
She can’t hear a word
Or a voice that can sing

Through the eyes of a blind child
Although they can’t see
But sometimes they can see better
Than you and me

Through the eyes of a child
So much pain he endures;
Cancer growing in his body
He prays for a cure

Through the eyes of a child
Homeless and afraid,
Wonders if he’ll get to eat
For another day

Through the eyes of YOUR child —
What do THEY see?
Do they see love or hate?
What will it be?

From birth and on
Questions arise;
Just what is seen
Through the eyes of a child?

“I believe the reason Through the Eyes of a Child came to me was the looks on children’s faces through different crises in their lives. Even in adulthood, sometimes the inner child faces something that cannot be forgotten. That incident often plays a pivotal role in their lives.”
— Lisa Ray

Above, quilted project Through the Eyes of a Child by Barb Pozek. The art won first place in the stand-alone art category.

Lisa Ray, fiddler, singer, songwriter and poet, accepts first place for best stand-alone written piece.

Barb Pozek, center, shares her work. At left, Dale Grubaugh. At right, Joshua Heston.

Barb Pozek

I was intrigued about the project Josh had pairing an artist and a writer for a collaboration previously and how so many artists enjoyed the process. When the opportunity came for me to participate in his second event, I signed up. When I received the writing piece, I had two weeks to complete my art piece.

First, I read Lisa Ray’s piece several times. I considered several different images, perhaps more complex compositions but, slowly, I began to narrow my vision down to the essentials of one child could be every child spoken about in her piece and the importance of eyes in her writing.

My medium is fabric — specifically, quilting — and that tends to take some time to produce. Making a very small piece (in terms of quilting) while still expressing the thoughts was challenging but, in the end, very rewarding. Creating a more graphic image of a face was a technique I had done in the past but had moved away from. I knew it would be the best technique to express the emotions I wanted to show. Framing made it easier to display and also dictated the size of the piece.

As with many artists living in the Ozarks, I work full-time and I had to really budget my time to make this piece for the deadline. Most of my free time was spent working on this piece. I was relieved and exhilarated when I finished it in time.

My experience with this project was overwhelmingly positive. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Lisa Ray that evening, who seemed to be very pleased with my visual interpretation of her writing. The shorter deadline made me intensify my thinking process and jump to construction much sooner than I typically do, missing most of the second guessing I might have done otherwise.

Meeting so many writers and visual artists that evening of all different ages was so inspiring to me. I came away from that evening with great excitement for the state of arts in the Ozarks.