by Savannah Hart
Julie Baldyga’s Heavenly People on view at KMAC through November 8, 2020.
“This collection showcases Baldyga’s work over different periods of her life and is a poignant reminder of what is possible when we refuse to write people off.”
- Carrie Neumayer, in the introduction to In Heaven Everyone Will Shake Your Hand.
I visited KMAC a couple Thursdays ago, and the work on the walls unearthed some memories I have from a few years back:
My high school friend Murrin had been imploring me for a few summers to join her at JAF Family Retreat, an event at which she and her family serve every year. Finally I found myself with her at Shawnee Lodge in southern Ohio, people of all ages bustling around us. Lots of lanyards, lots of color-coded t-shirts, the usual camp-y things. Also, lots of textured, sensory objects. Lots of unshaven legs and armpits, lots of running, climbing, and crawling. Lots of sound.
I remember one of my earliest interactions there as I walked past a man sitting in a chair. “Hey, hey, hey!” he called after me. “Josephine and...?” He repeated it a couple times, eagerly waiting for me to finish his sentence.
“Aw, Josephine? I don’t think I know a Josephine! Who do you mean?”
Then he said another phrase, a line from the movie. He threw in the names Meg and Marmie.
“Wait!... do you mean Josephine and Laurie?”
“YES, LAURIE!” he vigorously clapped his hands and began to dance in his seat. “Ok, here’s another one . . .”
One of his most active forms of communication, and clearly the one that brought him the most joy, was speaking in movie quotes. Especially Little Women.
I was serving at a week-long event put on by Joni and Friends, a retreat and vacation provided for families impacted by disability. When the families arrive at the lodge, the scene becomes one like a red carpet—we’re told to exuberantly celebrate these people who often walk into other public places and are “written off.” They come here entirely to receive, to party, to rest, and to have space to fully be themselves. One family comes every year with a son who loves to walk. He would walk all day if he could. But at Family Retreat he can—and he does. The minute they arrive, his team of buddies join him on his continuous meander of the grounds. We’d see them pass by on occasion throughout the week.
“David and Beverly Having Fun at the Prom” by Julie Baldyga. Oil pastel on masonite.
The experience was beautifully unconventional. All social norms were tossed out the window. It was a setting like I hadn’t found myself in before, with a profoundly refreshing freedom. It reminded me of Heaven:
No standards to fit.
A complete, blissful acceptance and safety.
Unadulterated expression.
Heaven reflected from a different angle.
KMAC is currently exhibiting through the end of this week (Nov. 8) the work of Julie Baldyga, a Louisvillian of StudioWorks by Zoom Group. The angle from which Julie views the world is vividly put on display: pastel drawings with impressive technique, ceramic models, and life-size sculptural figures all of the people and things she loves. You’ll pick up on the things she loves best: big hands, complex machinery, close friends.
The name of the show is Heavenly People, as the world that Julie gives us is her own life, and the people in it, perfected and made whole. This is Heaven to her.
When Julie thinks of Heaven, she’s not thinking of gold streets and biblical saints, but of the squirrels that run around there, the inventions we’ll still be exploring, the dances we’ll still dress up for. It’s filled with lots of car parts and busy hands, captured in a style that reminds me of early Picasso; people with ordinary names and plenty of body hair.
Heaven reflected from a different angle.
Also available at KMAC, the Louisville Story Program published a collection of Julie’s work over the years in a beautiful book, In Heaven Everyone Will Shake Your Hand: The Art of Julie Baldyga. The book also tells the story of parents, siblings, and teachers who ensured that someone whom society was ready to “write off” knew she was loved, safe, and accepted. They ensured her vision and skills were acknowledged, encouraged, and cultivated.
For unadulterated expression.
The world is far wider, far more glorious, if we let those who step outside the conventional lines take us with them.