Tita Recometa-Brady

MYRA: I can tell you have a lot of great travel stories.

TITA: I have many, but how would you like it if you were caught inside one of the pyramids in Egypt? You enter one of the tombs in Cairo – you know one of the three big pyramids?

MYRA: The Pyramids of Giza?

TITA: Yes, my husband went inside one of the pyramids, and he nearly couldn’t get out! He started to suffocate because it was so dark and the air was so dry, and we had to enter CRAWLING on your knees.

MYRA: Seriously, it was that tight?

TITA: YES, we couldn’t stand or walk. I could only fit inside the hallway. And it was hot when we went. It was August. It wasn’t a good time to do it, but we did it anyway just for the hell of it. It’s just one of those things I will never forget!

MYRA: So when did you start pursuing art full-time?

TITA: Oh, I taught art for 35 years, and then in 2002, I decided to hang up my teacher’s certificate. Even though I’ve been working hard and showing artworks since I was young, I stumbled for a number of years because of travels and THEN the children came and THEN the grandchildren, and that took up time, you know, but it’s been fun!

Tita Brady and her husband, Jim, at the Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt

But NOW I want to tell you a different story. NOT about the show BUT this will be part of it. Now here’s the story –

Tita pulls her phone closer to her face, I lean in closer to my laptop screen, intrigued by what her words might reveal.

TITA: Anatol Rychalski was the main engineer of the five-storey tall sculpture of Pablo Picasso in front of the Daley Plaza. Everybody knows it now, but when people first saw it, nobody liked it. Few people loved it, but anyway –

When they unveiled it, on August 15, 1967, there were dignitaries from around the world. There was even [an orchestra] for the unveiling of this MASSIVE sculpture by Picasso. Now, the name Picasso sends shivers to anyone in the art world BUT Picasso didn’t come —

Rychalski was then asked to say a few words – here was the man of the hour that supervised the construction of this massive sculpture. So, he got up there, clap clap clap, then after the sculpture was unveiled, everybody left!

I was there at the unveiling because I was a student of the School of the Art Institute, and we were – I’ll use the word ‘mandated’ as students to better make sure we were present at the unveiling of the Picasso sculpture!

MYRA: I would be there too if I could time travel!

TITA: So, what would a poor student from the Philippines do?