BTS: Inner Landscapes
It has been almost two years since my last art show which feels both so long ago and like it was yesterday. I took an intentional break from creating and selling artwork, focusing on my photography clients.
This collection of work, like many things I do, started with a memory. The boxes and boxes of loose photographs that went with my Mom wherever she moved. Inside contained photographs from my childhood, her childhood and many photographs of people and places I have never met. I have now inherited these boxes of memories.
What does it mean to be a memory keeper?
To pass along, not only the physical memory of one's life, but the stories, the hurts, the bittersweetness that we all experience in life. What if I could share the memories and moments that have shaped me, in real time?
I began digging into my own boxes (read: external hard drive) of loose photographs and pulled those that represent moments in my own life. As a woman who has chosen to not have children, who inherits my memories and stories?
Why embroidery?
As an artist known for color (and lots of it), an entire exhibition without it would not do. Inspiration was taken from scrapbooking and photo collages that used thread to adhere photographs or important items to paper.
Using these colorful threads created a bridge between my personal memories and my love for abstract creation.
It also occurs to me how sewing and thread can be used to mend items. There’s something in the act of sewing things together that makes me inspires healing.
For the last 2 and a half months I have dedicated time and energy into a deep dive of my own life’s memories. The feeling of nostalgia, in a lot of ways, can be painful for me. I sometimes wondered, is this too much? Is it too serious? I fought this inner self critic for a good chunk of time and then I decided to just listen. I remember this moment so vividly, sitting on a large rock in the middle of the creek with the sun warming my back.
