AMY MEISSNER
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Mother Thought of Everything
    • Inheritance
    • Reliquary
    • Public Art
  • CV
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

The 27th boxes of mystery.

1/31/2018

7 Comments

 
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Handmade clay buttons. Circa: 1977.

I "officially" stopped collecting boxes of mystery for the Inheritance Project a long time ago. Like, September-30th-2016-long-time ago. But in the way I always accepted old cloth before the Project became a thing, I still accept it now. 

At the end of this post is a sneak peek at one of the pieces from the Inheritance Project body of work, and when I send out the next newsletter, I'll give another peek there. I just finished a large piece yesterday and I'm on the home stretch for a May exhibition at the Anchorage Museum.

Meanwhile, a deep and belated thank you to the next two Vintage Linen Contributors to the Inheritance Project. These items were delivered this fall.

Life Essence.


Many Contributors to this project are artists, and Anchorage-based Carol Lambert is no exception. I met Carol two years ago, when we were both curated into a small group show at Alaska Pacific University called Fragments of Time. She is a fine artist -- draws, paints, and is someone whose eye seeks the details that flesh out the darker undercurrents of life: a severed bird wing, a bit of bone. Around Christmas, she opened her studio and offered years-worth of still life props to other artists and makers who could find them useful. Alas, I didn't make it to her open studio prop give away, but I'd already visited with her in my own studio this fall when she delivered culled fabrics and accoutrements. Of course, these items blended easily into my life, despite how long it's taken me to share them here. So long, in fact, that I've already used several yards of it (although the Canadian in me really still likes to think in meters). Thank you, Carol, for contributing to the Inheritance Project and for attending one of the Needle & Myth workshops at the Anchorage Museum this fall. It's been a delight to follow your work all this time.

​You, too, can see Carol's paintings and drawings here, and/or follow Carol on Instagram: @carollambertarts.

Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Various linens and shantungs, some old, some a little newer.
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Several yards of fluid wedding gown satin found in Carol's mother's mother's drawer, circa: pre-1969, unused (age-worn and gorgeous). An Irish linen sheet with a "B. Altman, New York" label. Various other linens and chunks of newer upholstery with crewel embroidery designs.
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Orange silk, originally a skirt and may become one again. So gorgeous.
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
All the various trims and hem lace/tape we all collect, but rarely have use for in contemporary dressmaking projects. The bottom row (left features a length of sturdy handmade bobbin lace trim and a lace dickie (false blouse front), which I've since dyed charcoal grey.
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Handmade clay buttons: Maker: a family member in her 20's; Circa, 1977; Origin, unknown. They came in that groovy star-covered box at the beginning of this post, featuring that US Bicentennial vibe. So good.
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Teeny tiny petit point on a linen napkin/handkerchief. Not to be confused with a really big dime.
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Matching embroidered linen tea towels. Circa, Origin, Maker: Unknown.

Arizona Hardscrabble.

Thank you to Dennis Anderson, one of two men who have contributed to the Inheritance Project. Dennis and I were put in contact through the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska last fall. The quilt he contributed was made by his Great Grandmother, Hettie, on a Singer treadle sewing machine. I love this photo of her and have it on the wall in my studio. It's a source of great joy and defiant power.

​Do not mess with this lady. Do not.
​
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Hettie Colliie Nickell Harrison. Born 1873 at Str Lime Works, Lyon County KY. Now underwater as part of the creation of Lakes National Park.
"Please use the photograph to the fullest.  I love that picture.  My mother said that Hettie always dressed that way. The ranch house had a wind mill with a 100 gallon tank about 50 feet from the home. When I spent a week end there about 1949 they had running water in the kitchen.  I don't know about a bathroom. They had an outhouse about 100 feet from the house. It was a one seater with the quarter moon cut out in the door. And HONEST To GOSH a Sears and Roebuck catalog toilet paper."

--Dennis Anderson, Contributor



Hettie collected Bull Durham tobacco pouches from her husband and the cowboys at neighboring ranches, using the cloth to make this quilt. It is sun faded and water stained, but I've already incorporated a baby quilt and another piece -- an unfinished embroidery from Olga Norris in England, with its own story of strength and defiance -- to complete "War Room," for exhibition this May. Below is a sneak peek. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, here's where those 2,000 tapestry needles landed.
​
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
"In that quilt is the love of the Anderson family. Hope you can find a place for it in your artwork." Dennis Anderson, Contributor.
Amy Meissner, textile artist. | From The 27th boxes of mystery. | www.amymeissner.com/blog/the-27th-boxes-of-mystery
"War Room," (46" x 62") Baby quilt, quilt, abandoned embroidery, domestic linens, foam, tapestry needles, 2017.

One year ago on this site:

The Thread Unraveled -- VM Art Gallery, Karachi Pakistan.

Two years ago on this site:

Broadsided.

Three years ago on this site:

Worth Keeping.
7 Comments
Helen Geglio link
2/2/2018 05:27:09 am

Those are some amazing buttons. You are thriving in the cold and dark of winter, producing some amazing artwork, working through some complex concepts and pulling it all together for a museum premier. Well done. I especially enjoy the sculptural aspects of some of the new photos you have posted. The War Room is a piece I look forward to seeing full view.

Reply
Amy Meissner link
2/2/2018 06:12:20 am

Thank you, Helen. I've thought of you many times throughout this long process and most recently when I submitted my application for the Barbara Deming Feminist Art Fund you sent my way a long time ago (I didn't forget!). It's so good to have your friendship and kind words this dark, cold morning.
Warmly,
Amy

Reply
Rhonda Baldwin link
2/2/2018 06:54:34 am

Amy,
I just had to share with you the way I feel when you share about your work and process.

Few people that I,be met make me feel the way you do. Empowered. Awestruck. Humbled to be counted amount women.

Your voice shouts power and respect in the most quiet unassuming way to me and I am moved.

Thank you.

Reply
Lorie McCown link
2/2/2018 08:13:12 am

It's really coming together. Thinking of you.

Reply
Carol Lambert link
2/2/2018 04:13:11 pm

This post brings me such happiness, thank you for taking on those materials. I cherished them for as long as I could, then I saw you would have the vision to allow them to become what they wanted to be. It’s so gratifying to know I took them to exactly the right person, the extraordinary Amy!

Reply
K N Goodrich link
2/8/2018 11:48:32 am

Thank you for the latest newsletter. I really enjoyed the links to the other artists (the bed installation was quite haunting and the crochet portraits amazing). Keep up the good work.
--K N

Reply
Holly Hudson
2/8/2018 01:56:12 pm

still so happy to be receiving your updates....loved the story about the Anderson family. I have a wounded quilt that I am plan to share the blocks in an embroidery/mixed media class this summer. It will be in the countryside, France. I also plan to share your blog with the teachers (3) & class.....thank you for keeping me on your update list! spring is coming...

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Amy Meissner, textile artist. Photo credit Brian Adams, 2013. www.amymeissner.com

    Amy Meissner

    Artist in Anchorage, Alaska, sometimes blogging about the collision of history, family & art, with the understanding that none exists without the other.

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alaska
    Artist Profiles
    Beach Work
    Book Illustration
    Boxes Of Mystery
    Children
    Embroidery
    Fear
    Find Your Teachers
    Former Lives
    Found Objects
    Gallery Shows
    Girl Story
    Histories
    How To
    Illustration
    Inheritance Project
    Interviews
    Louise Bourgeois
    Mending
    Motherhood
    Natural World
    Photography
    Process
    Public Art
    Quilts
    Reliquary
    Textile Art
    Traveling Eye
    Vintage Linens
    Wedding Gowns
    Wool
    Workshops

    Archives

    February 2019
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

  • Home
  • Projects
    • Mother Thought of Everything
    • Inheritance
    • Reliquary
    • Public Art
  • CV
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact