Sunday, July 4
Felix Oliva, dear friend, you lived joyously
There I said it. For the past couple of days, I did not put an entry into this log because I did not want to acknowledge that Felix has left us. I also feel guilty because I had wanted to finish a web page showing his works. I kept putting off e-mails that I wanted to send him. Teresa dreamed of meeting up with him in Paris. Felix had been one of her art instructors back in the mid 1980s.
I saw Felix last when I was in Peru in October 2002. He greeted me and Teresa as if we had just bumped into each other at an art gallery the day before. I had been out of the country for six years. He had us over to his home for dinner with his wife, Liliane, even though they were going to Paris in a few days. He took us into his taller, showed us his latest creations and talked about his plans and dreams. It was an unforgetable evening, just like so many other s I had had in his home.
Felix was so generous with his time, his affection and his enthusiasm. His curiousity led him in many directions creatively, in ceramics, painting and drawing, writing and teaching, dreaming of a day when Peru and its many diverse and comflicted inhabitants will fulfill their potential. I will consider my own life as well lived if I could only learn your mastery of creative endeavor and passion for your fellow Peruvians.