Originally published in LLLI’s LEAVEN, September-October 1995
Many aspects of the 14th LLLI Conference in Chicago reminded me of Georges Seurat’s painting “Sunday on La Grande Jatte,†people enjoying a Parisian park. Finished by Seurat in 1886, this well-known example of the pointillism technique hangs in The Art Institute of Chicago. Our conference was also a canvas of dots and dashes of color. From the fruit compote at the first luncheon to Faye Young’s wild hats at the banquet finale, Seurat himself would have enjoyed the rich palette:
• Mothers in bright flowered dresses wearing their babies in a rainbow of sling
• Breastfed babies’ faces in browns, creams, pinks, yellows, and blacks
• Bags, suitcases, and totes in a variety of sizes and colors at the registration counter
• Ribbons of blue, red, green, pink, orange, yellow, purple, brown, and white hanging from conference nametags
• Book jackets of every design and hue in the Conference Bookstore
• The greens of Grant Park and the blues of Lake Michigan from hotel room windows
• Costumes, bandannas, passport stamps, and flags at the World Tour
• Marble floors and fresh flower arrangements in the halls and foyers
• Children’s identifying wrist bands in neon green and orange
• Sparkling crystal chandeliers and lavender chairs in banquet rooms
• Lovely dolls depicting mothers around the world decorating the offices of ouw new headquarters
Up close the splashes of color sometimes seemed diverse and unrelated. But standing back from the canvas, patters and solid forms emerged—just as they do in Seurat’s masterpiece. The dots and dashes become mothers, babies, Leaders, administrators, Founders, fathers, toddlers, and Board members. Those optical mixtures became a tapestry of color and light, revealing the cohesive vision of an organization focused on nurturing the world’s future.
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