BY KAREN BOSSICK
A flag of hand-blown poppies has taken its place amidst the photographic landscapes at MESH Gallery.
The poppies, arranged in the likeness of an American flag and backlit on a purple background reflecting the Purple Heart Medal, are the brainchild of Sun Valley resident William S. Potter.
And he’s auctioning off his “Poppies for Patriots” to raise money for Higher Ground Sun Valley, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans and community residents through adaptive recreation programs.
“As a society, we’ve forgotten the meaning behind the poppies,” he said, reciting a brief line from the poem “In Flanders Fields,” which salutes World War I soldiers buried between crosses row on row.
The work is on display at MESH Gallery, 420 4th St. East in Ketchum in the old Paul Kenny ski shop across from Atkinsons’ Market. Viewers will be able to see it during Friday’s Gallery Walk from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 16.
“This is a rather extraordinary piece,” said Jeff Lubeck, who owns MESH Gallery with his son Kyle. “Bill has always been a non-linear thinker and, while the idea of celebrating the flag and our injured and fallen heroes makes total sense, Bill gets there via a non-traditional route.”
Potter served on the Higher Ground’s board of directors for seven years. Four years ago he launched the R4 Alliance, a national program that works with organizations around the country to reintegrate veterans and their families into their local communities.
His latest endeavor had its seeds in a trip he and his wife took to London in 2014 where the British were commemorating the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great World War.
As part of that commemoration the British featured 888,246 ceramic poppies spilling out of a window of the Tower of London into the moat below in honor of the British soldiers lost during that war.
“It was a sea of red—just magnificent what they did,” Potter said. “I got to thinking: We’ve lost 7,000 in the war on terrorism. How about doing something to honor them?”
Potter had artists at Boulder Mountain Clayworks make 93 poppies representing the number of Idahoans he was told had lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq in the war on terrorism since the 9/11 attacks.
He laid them out in Ketchum Town Square next to Starbucks and then had a drone take a picture that allowed him to photoshop what 7,000 would look like.
But he wanted to do more—perhaps, displaying on poppies on stakes in front of a city hall. He tried other artistic mediums such as Crayola’s Model Magic modeling compound. But the poppies he made with it proved too lightweight and they didn’t hold their color.
Then he ran into Dan Gaumer, a glassblower in Lehigh Valley, Penn., who runs a martial arts program. Gaumer blew the poppies out of glass.
And Potter had the inspiration to light them from behind while watching the light frame a duck in the sky while duck hunting in Hagerman.
“It’s very cool in the dark,” he said.
Hailey artist Ted Waddell and Luis Micelles provided the technical support he needed to do that. And Sue Bridgman Florist provided glass covers resembling marbles to cover the screws used to screw the poppies to their backdrop.
Potters hopes to auction the work off between now and Memorial Day.
“Let’s see what kind of patriot will stand up to secure this for their home or office. It could even be hung in the airport or city hall,” said Potter who served as a first lieutenant in the Army during Vietnam.
“The things Higher Ground has done to change people’s lives is amazing. I remember one veteran who learned to fly fish at a Higher Ground camp, and you could see the light go on. He went home to Louisiana and started fly fishing there.”
Potter is entertaining other things to do with poppies. He’s also experimenting with two new programs called “The Patriot’s Pour” and “The Patriot’s Pump.”
In the first, he’s working with Grumpy’s and Zou 75 to see whether diners are amenable to paying a little extra for their drink or tip with the money going to Higher Ground.
The Patriot’s Pump would ask drivers to pay another penny per gallon of gas with the money going to warrior programs, such as Higher Ground.
“What really troubles me is that we’re losing 22 veterans a day to suicide. We’re losing more to suicide that combat,” he said. “Kids—most of them volunteers—are doing up to 22 tours of duty and then they come home and overnight they go from positions of great importance to being overmedicated couch potatoes. Programs like Higher Ground get them off the couch and back to productive lives.”
NUMBER OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS LOST IN CONFLICT:
American Revolution: 4,435
War of 1812: 2,260
Indian Wars of 1817-1898: 1,000
Mexican-American War of 1846-1848: 1,733
Civil War: 140,414 Union soldiers and 74,524 Confederate soldiers (224,097 more Union forces and 59,297 Confederate soldiers died of disease and other causes)
Spanish-American War: 385
World War I: 53,402
World War II: 291,557
Korean War: 33,739
Vietnam War: 47,434
Persian Gulf War or Desert Shield/Desert Storm: 148