Artist's ashes scattered around the globe

CINCINNATI -- Friends of an artist were handed envelopes containing her ashes at her memorial service and given a task: Spread the ashes wherever they felt appropriate.

Sculptor Patricia Renick's ashes ended up all over the world, her friends said, from a courtyard at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Mo., to the side of a Tibetan mountain covered with Buddhist prayer flags.

The 75-year-old Renick, who died in May, was a University of Cincinnati professor emeritus of fine art.

Her longtime companion Laura Chapman came up with the idea to distribute the ashes. She said the idea grew out of a conversation the two had about memorials, cemetery art and traditions for dealing with death.