Journey and Return series
Mulberry paper, fabric, handmade paper, feathers, buttons, tea bags, insect shells, sea shells, various memorabilia from family and travel, snaps, inner bark of mulberry, embroidery and linen thread, ribbon, beads, coffee and tea stained paper, yarn, Joomchi. 67x81x33 in, 2025.
This work began with a studio visit to Alka Mathur in New Delhi India. Her tiny collages using bits and bobs from her mother-in-law’s sewing basket, sewn onto hand-made paper captivated me. Something deep within me responded to them (see image). So, I began making my own, first on squares of Joomchi, and then on hand-made paper acquired in India and printed on at a block printing workshop in Katchh.
Alka Mathur’s memory square
Alka also inspired me with her daily practice of saving her tea bags and doodling on them as she rode the bumpy streets of India. As I made these “memory squares”, I began with my own mother’s sewing basket and little items from my grandmother (which represent “home” to me) but then began adding paper and fabric and other mementos of places I had traveled.
Over time, the work grew, sewing onto hand-made papers and becoming banners. Some journeys come from travel:
Ribbon from the temple markets in Maduri India
Chinese and Japanese calligraphy
Brass buttons from north India
Red tassels from China
Fabric from Santa Fe that my granddaughters (aged 6 and 7) used to sew their first dresses
Images of “return” represent home or what grounds me in memory:
An insect shell from a beach in Weekapaug RI, where my husband worked for three summers as a teenager. He took me there when we first began going out and it lives in his imagination still.
Buttons, snaps, lace, and other oddments from my mother’s and grandmother’s sewing. Making clothes for us was my mother’s love language.
Feathers from my sister-in-law’s chickens in New Hampshire. Visits to Debby were a welcome retreat in nature for quick getaways or family Thanksgiving feasts.
Scraps of Joomchi, a Korean paper manipulation process, were my first serious foray into art making—and thus both a journey and now a “home base” for my art.
The theme of journey and return—where my curiosity led me in travel and art, and then the return to “home” emerged as I worked organically.
Journey and Return Detail
This Memory Square uses feathers from my sister-in-law’s chickens, hand block paper I printed at a workshop in India, snaps from my mother’s sewing kit, and hand made paper I acquired from a studio visit in Santa Fe. The Journey elements involve my memories of travel to India and Santa Fe. The Return elements evoke my mother’s sewing for me growing up and regular visits to my sister-in-law, who raises chickens.
Journey and Return Detail
This Memory Square incorporates my mother’s sewing label for clothes she made, Joomchi made in my first workshop, calligraphy from a trip to China, buttons from my mother, and silk thread collected on an Uzbekistan textile tour. They bring back memories of my journeys to China, Uzbekistan, and workshops at the Penland School of Craft. The items from my mother evoke “home” for me.
one-wild-prescious-life-1Journey and Return Detail
I made this abaca paper and dyed the inner bark of the mulberry tree at the Paper and Book Arts Intensive at Oxbow. The mulberry bark is laid directly on the wet abaca paper and bonds as it dries. This element represents my journeys in art, following my curiosity and exploring what the different materials can do.
Journey and Return Detail
I made this spirit man with my friend Jill Romanoke, with whom I had art dates when I was working full time. Jill was a wonderful guide for me when I began my artist’s journey. The feathers on the arms are from my sister-in-law’s chickens. I have great memories of visiting her on the farm, and being inspired by the house she built echoing Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian houses — nestling into the landscape overlooking Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire.