An Aegean Center Fairy Tale

Egg tempera still life by Jacklyn Massari

by Jacklyn Massari

Once upon a time there was a girl named Mackie Vassari.  She was living the perfect life, according to society.  She had the perfect apartment in a cute little suburban town right next to a park.  The apartment was white, with lots of natural light, and the most precious blue tea pot.

She had a comfortable full time job that she knew so well,  she could even do her job with her eyes closed.  Mackie’s job was not far from her super cute apartment, where she liked to light candles and incense after she got home from work, while she was making chicken sausage for dinner. Yum!

She was living with a guy named Bon.  He was the All-American Man.  He had a great, stable job, common sense (for the most part), and a decent sense of humour.  He wanted to provide everything to Mackie for the rest of her life.  She would never have to lift a finger, except to paint, which is her favourite thing to do!

She was basically on the verge of living the dream.  Or was she?  She found herself thinking constantly about life.  What’s the point?  There must be more to life than this.  Right?  This can’t be it.  She was confused and sad.  Except for when she taught Zumba classes to ladies who loved shaking their booties.  But other than that, she was sad.

One day,  someone she knew from high school died of cancer.  He was so young.  She imagined that that could happen to anyone, and she immediately booked a trip to Greece because it had always been her DREAM to go there.  She wanted to make sure she got the chance, and realised that it will never be “the right time” for anything.  So just do it now.

That trip made her realise that there is a big world out there,  and she wanted more of it.  Soon after, Mackie applied to the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts.  Much to her surprise, she was on a plane on her way to the Center for her first (of three) semesters only a month later.  It seemed like a whirlwind, but pretty much the coolest whirlwind in the whole wide world.  She left Bon, her job, her apartment, and the rest of her life behind her to travel off to Paros.

Slowly slowly, she stopped thinking so much about what the point of life is.  She was just happy.  She was learning a million things about art, languages, Greek mountain tea, Greek superstitions, relationships, Italian Renaissance artists, egg tempera painting and sunsets.  She was also learning how to live simply and how important art is to her happiness and well being…and not only hers, but everyones.  She learned so many things about herself that she never would have learned otherwise.  Art opens up all those doors.

Mackie is even more obsessed with art than ever before.  Since leaving the Aegean Center, she has been working many fulfilling, artistic jobs, and slowly building her life back up again in the way that is right for her.  She lives in a small studio that shakes sometimes because it is located right next to the train tracks, and above a fish shop that smells of rotten fish sometimes (especially in the summer) and with a shower that does not work.  BUT she is SO much happier.

And so the moral of the story is:

1. Live life to the fullest.
2. Don’t wait.
3. Create.
4. Be happy.
5. Live simply.
6. BADDABING BADDA BOOM!

Jacklyn Massari attended the Aegean Center in Spring 2011, Fall 2011 and Spring 2012. She returned to the Aegean Center this summer to attend Jane’s Figure Drawing Intensive.