New Orleans Review

Tara Gorman wakes at 6 a.m. to be at work by 7. She’s a retail manager at a wholesale produce company in Western Massachusetts. She calls it “the fruit mines,” and tells me she likes her job. Most days Tara works until 6:30 p.m. and is home by 7. After dinner she does whatever chores need to be done to clean up from that day and prepare for the next. Then, with whatever time and energy is left, Tara goes to the basement to play with toys. She makes dioramas or stages scenes that sometimes include produce or other food. On her day off Tara might walk in the woods, bringing along an elephant, a nun, or a man in a lawn chair or other little toys as well as her camera. This got me thinking: do adults make art for the same reasons children play? Neither activity is immediately necessary for survival and yet––