The FPCH community is heartbroken to learn of the unexpected death of artist Tao LaBossiere in the early morning hours of Wednesday, August 28, 2024. Tao died peacefully following a massive stroke. Tao was truly a Hartford treasure, a talented muralist, artist, and sculptor who championed other artists, cared deeply about Hartford, and gave so much of himself to his community and his creations. He had a gift for mixing deep meaning and whimsy in his art. The city is dotted with his work, but the piece that means the most to us is, of course, the Blooming Strawberries mural he and his wife Amy designed and began painting on our Administrative building this summer. Even in its current unfinished state, you can see his skill with trompe l'oeil and envision how he would make the two buildings look like one. We can imagine, too, his vision for signs of flourishing and interdependence in the vision of the strawberry plant in every stage of its life cycle.

Tao especially captured the hearts of our Mural Team, who spent a good deal of time with him imagining, planning, and dreaming together. Tao spent time around our church to learn about our congregants and who we are, with an innate understanding that any art that represents us needs to reflect the life and values of the church.

We also came to know and love Tao's bereaved wife, Amy, a phenomenal artist in her own right, and Tao's lifelong love. We grieve with Amy, and all who knew and loved Tao, and humbly acknowledge that we have lost a treasured soul. May we each learn to see the world's beauty through his eyes, even as we brave the sorrows of being human. In our tradition, we affirm that we are never separated from our Creator, our life source, our Higher Power. And so while we grieve Tao's death, we hold another truth: that he is at one with all that is, and indeed, as Longfellow said:  "Dead he is not, but departed, for the artist never dies."

Details of what's next, including the celebration of Tao's life, are forthcoming.

Please join me in extending prayers of consolation, comfort, and love to Amy LaBossiere, and prayers that Tao LaBossiere rest in God's eternal love and embrace.

In grief and faith, and in thanksgiving for a life well lived,

Pastor Nancy