Heirlooms

Place Setting #2     Place Setting #1     Learning A Tradition    Fractures     The Things I Never Said (detail)

Cocktail Napkin     A Parents Label     Truth Statements

In this body of work I begin with family heirlooms, personal keepsakes, and found objects that activate a familiar feeling. I try to create representations of the memories that surround these objects and give a physical presence to these memory traces from childhood. I utilize the physical act of making as a form of remembering through employing traditional domestic techniques that were once commonplace in my family. Rope making, embroidery, and lace tatting help me remember and feel connected to my childhood and family that I have lost.  Like Victorian sentimental and mourning jewelry, I use my own hair as a material in my work.  It is with my hair that I become physically tied to those recollections I mourn.