Family Matters 2017- present
'Family Matters' is the series that evolved as a result of my inheriting the contents of four storage units.
My aunt died in 1992, my mother in 2004. I recovered their possessions in four storage units that belonged to my recently deceased brother. More than a year after his passing I am still processing my legacy, sorting and documenting these treasures. Over 200 textiles—handkerchiefs, silk scarves, handmade dresses and ornamental flowers, photographs and objects filled suitcases and cardboard boxes.
This work represents a reappraisal of values. To me my brothers death was not only about his loss but about the entire family and its interrelationships.. The paintings, assemblage. and installations include objects and photographs that record my families issues of immigration, hard work, and love .
Cotton gloves originally worn by my mother, aunt and grandmother are recreated into porcelain forms. Over the past year I infused and encased individual gloves in porcelain clay. Fired at cone 6 (2232F} in kilns at the Greenwich House Pottery the cotton fibers of each glove burns away to create porcelain sculptures.
Made in homage to the hands that held mine and part of my 'Family Matters' series.
Out of fashion
Mother's love
Strings of pearls are stitched onto a white silk chiffon rectangle (found in my grandmother’s fabric collection); my brother’s army dog tags nestle in the stripes of mother’s pearls. I found the necklaces in boxes of costume jewelry and combining them with his dog tags made concrete for me my mother’s love of son and country.
Elephants never forget
Paid debt
A passion for beautiful things
Unfinished - Things we wish we had said