Maria Rendón

Resurrecting Mini

2020

In the dream I had in mid-March of 2020, I find my late dog Mini in a run-down wooden structure. I find her with so much dirt covering her beautiful white fur that I immediately take her into my arms, and I think, “I must give her a bath.” When we leave that structure, which is at a high point in the landscape, I see the ocean far away. We walk on a path towards the shore, and, at some point, I let her go. She runs towards the water and I see her approach a person that throws a ball at me really fast. I catch the ball. At that point my husband says, “Good catch!” and I wake up.

Repairing neglect is the main theme of my piece. I am a painter who used to think no- thing of throwing away the paint-covered drop cloths that protected my studio floor. Recently, these once-neglected materials serve as the starting point for my paintings on paper. We dismiss so much, and often fail to notice the potential in everything and everyone around us. I decided to use this process for my final piece as an attempt to rectify carelessness and to honor nurturing.