A Note on the Exhibition Title

                                                by Raffael de Gruttola

A friend asked me how I came to the title of the portfolio, Echoes in Sand.  The title is reflective of the last haiga in the twenty-six pieces, that is:

   driftwood in the sand
   standings
   echoing

Wilfred and I talked about how we could name the portfolio in a way that would reflect both our take on nature and at the same time something unique in the New England landscape. We decided on the phenomena that has mystified the general public as well as marine biologists for years, namely, why do the whales periodically strand themselves on the inner harbor of Cape Cod? Each year it seems some ten to fifteen whales strand themselves and die on the sand dunes of the Cape. People who live on the Cape try desperately to keep the stranded whales alive and move some of them back into the water. Occasionally they succeed but, more often than not, the whales die or have to be euthanized as their massive bodies sink into the sand. Along with this fact is the constant search in the waters of the New England shores for ships over the centuries that have sunk, whether they be fishing boats or other marine vessels during the time of strife in our young nation.

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