My driving trip last week through mostly rural South Carolina became a wonderful opportunity to remember.
I take the Interstate from Florida for only about half the drive. It’s stressful and I can’t wait to turn off at Hardeeville. From there, I have about three and a half hours of two-lane roads, small towns, farms and interesting things to see. On previous trips I’ve used this part of the drive to stop to take photos of abandoned homes and businesses.
The captured memories have become inspiration for some of my favorite quilts.
In the studio, I turn the photos into transfers onto fabric.
But, before that, I had spent time exploring. Standing on abandoned porches and outside windows looking inside.
I remember, particularly, this back door. The house was set back from the street. The day was quiet. I heard my footsteps on the leaves and pine needles below my feet. As soon as I saw this door, I also saw the family who once lived in this home.
I rearranged the windows and the back door. I added fabrics and painted details to give voice to the traditions and hospitality that once inhabited this home.
The Lord Giveth and the Interstate Taketh Away 2020 41” x 55”
In preparation for my exhibit in June, I took this quilt down from the shelf in my studio and looked at it closely once again. It is a record of memory – on memory – on memory, layered in fabric.
There are the memories of the life in the home – all of which I can only create in my imagination.
There is the memory of being in that place and recording photos.
There is the memory of being in the studio, putting the parts together and creating a new reality.
All these things are in the finished work – a record of the creative process.
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Memorial Day is set aside to make room for very specific memories, honoring members of the Armed Forces who have lost their lives in combat. For many Americans, this day also has a sweet nostalgia, the beginning of summer and patriotic images melting into hot afternoons, cold watermelons on picnic tables and evenings filled with fireflies.
My best wish to you is for memories filled with meaning. . . and inspiration.
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