One of Graves’ bird painting shows Harr’s reflection. photos by bob doran
Loleta population 118 113 artists 3 sculptors 2 potters
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“Winter bouquet (flowering quince, rosehaws, narcissus, winter rose, and camellia)” (1977)
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Lake, taking care of the artist’s day-to-day needs and dealing with outsiders. Now in his 60s, Graves sh ifted into a new phase of minimalist paintings of floral arrangements, works with a Zen-like simplicity intended as statements about the nature of beauty. He unpacked the “Instruments of a New Navigation” sculptures and completed them. He continued working in his garden, tending his flowers and manicuring the landscape of The Lake, refining beauty of a different sort. But mostly he enjoyed his solitary life on The Lake, away from the noise and hustle bustle of civilization — and people. His wry view of the town he called home shows in a whimsical census, written in 1997 and found among his letters, which reads in part:
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Of course he did not, in fact, sell The Lake. Graves was prone to dramatic gestures and statements, and his letter to the McBrides was one of them. He eventually resolved his money problems and got back on track with his work. In 1973, he hired an assistant, Robert Yarber, who lived at The
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