Inheritance: makers. memory. myth.
This solo exhibition was made possible with support from the Sustainable Arts Foundation and the Rasmuson Foundation.
It was presented at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center as part of the Patricia B. Wolf Solo Exhibition Series with support from the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the Anchorage Museum Foundation's Alaska Airlines Silver Anniversary Fund. It later traveled to the Alaska State Museum in Juneau as part of their 2017-2019 Solo Artist Exhibition Series.
It was presented at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center as part of the Patricia B. Wolf Solo Exhibition Series with support from the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the Anchorage Museum Foundation's Alaska Airlines Silver Anniversary Fund. It later traveled to the Alaska State Museum in Juneau as part of their 2017-2019 Solo Artist Exhibition Series.
Selected works from the Inheritance Project.
The psychic burden of the totality of goods has been overwhelming, but I am grateful that at least some of these pieces and their energy can find rest and rebirth. Thank you.”
~Kelly, Vintage Linen Contributor
(The embroidery) represents, in its unfinished state, my futile attempt that summer to remain the daughter/niece/grand-daughter everyone expected. Little did I know that that struggle would go on until just a few days ago when my mother died. I would like the piece, like me, to go on and become something more positive.”
~Olga, Vintage Linen Contributor
The voice of this cloth is so strong I wanted you to have a piece of it. Amelia [the maker] was incarcerated in the Detroit House of Correction for killing her abusive husband..."
~Helen, Vintage Linen Contributor
She and my grandfather would wake each night around 2 am, have a sandwich together and return to their separate bedrooms.”
~Tracie, Vintage Linen Contributor
The relatives emptied her home in preparation to sell it, and after taking the most useful items for themselves, spread the rest on a sheet on the lawn. The entire town of Wallis, Texas had yard sales that Saturday—over 30 sales in a town of about 300 people. The potholders were 25 cents apiece. The heart breaks, really.”
-Bobbe, Vintage Linen Contributor
Use what you can. Feel free to dispose of anything you don’t want, in any manner you see fit. I only wish my own inheritance had come with that disclaimer.”
~Tracie, Vintage Linen Contributor
Artist Statement.
The Inheritance Project began in 2015 when a woman sent a box filled with old, hand crafted cloth “to deconstruct” any way I liked. I come from a family of prolific Scandinavian needle women who sent handmade items throughout my life, but this stranger’s generous act became the catalyst for a multi-year effort to collect unused, unfinished or unwanted vintage linens. Despite asking contributors for associated histories, the majority of makers, origins and timelines still remains unknown. In the spirit of generosity and a resulting catharsis for many, over 70 contributors sent nearly 600 objects, with known origins representing 20 countries and 25 states. The rigorous process of corresponding, documenting and considering each piece of unrestricted cloth informed this current body of work.
I became the final inheritor. These salvaged embroideries, linens and crocheted items embody the original makers’ intentions for beauty, home and possibility. Difficult to discard, but burdensome to store, this cloth was saved for grandchildren, saved for someday, with the very best saved for never. Cutting such material apart and reconfiguring it for a contemporary context meant sifting through the tangible and intangible detritus of women’s lives. Some of it speaks long after its solitary makers no longer can. My work with needle explores this literal, physical and emotional work of women — gathering the collective murmur in women’s handwork and combining it with my own to generate a new mythology. I approach this textile work with traditional skills and time, confronting an expectation of beauty with a raw female gaze. The resulting narrative does more to reveal an emotional truth about a life than any partial or assumed history. Completing a story feels human, crafting by hand even more so. Despite conflicted emotions around inherited objects, ideals and perceptions, we continue this potent ritual of insisting what we create has value, even if useless, unwanted, outdated — even if conjured from scraps of a life. |
Related Press.
Fiber Art Now, Amy Meissner | Re/Generation, by Anne Lee, Vol. 7 Issue 3, Spring 2018, pp. 32 - 35.
Forum: The Magazine of the Alaska Humanities Forum, Transformed by Needle, by Debra McKinney, Spring 2018, pp. 10 - 17.
Forum: The Magazine of the Alaska Humanities Forum, Transformed by Needle, by Debra McKinney, Spring 2018, pp. 10 - 17.
Documentation.
Contributors (first to last):Lee Ann Walker, Boel Werner, Kate Bowles, Roxanne Lasky, Olga Norris, Natalya Aikens, Inger MacRae, Mo Orkiszewski, Adrienne van Spanje, Tina Thuermer, Jeanna Duryee, Anna-Britta Andersson, Ingrid Hedman, Teri Hedman, Helen Geglio, Liz DeVree, Terry Parker, Bobbe Nolan, Gee Gee Erickson, Christine Byl & Gabe Travis, Tess Wentz, Lynne Bateson, Oma, Funkarella Farms, Lorie McCown, Lous & John Brubaker, Nikki Senecal, Nancy Gehm, Susan Schapira, Rebecka Greberg, Marianne Hellquist, Aude Franjou, Shehla Anjum, Diane Melms, Kelly Lorraine, J.M., Carrie Payne, Michelle P., Marolyn Cook, Diana Weymar, Ann Anderson, Jan Tetzlaff, Ágnes Palkó, Beth Brennan, Debra Steinmann, Nancy Frazier, Lynette Fisk, Ann Duggan, Lee Ann Bartolini, Kathleen Probst, Sherri Douglas, Tracie Savo-Bolack, Suzanne Williams, Tammy Hennessy, Jill Isakson, Denise Elaine Mongeau, Lara Ferguson, Linda Robinson, Karla Carpenter, Jan Livingston, Judy Kirpich, Carol Larson, Ann McNeely, Anonymous, Ina Braun, Wendy's neighbor, Marcia Cohen, Carol Lambert, Dennis Anderson, Cole Askevold & Ruth Askevold.
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Makers:Olga Clark, Maybe Natalya's Russian Grandmother, Veeda Pearl Duryee, Sarah Brookfield, Inga-Lisa Andersson, Christina Andersson, Anna-Britta Andersson, Nanny Andersson, Helen Smart, Helen's Aunt Alyda, Amelia, Alice Hedman, Martha Bakker, Rena Scheeres, Aunt Hattie, Maybe Lorie's Grandma or Aunt, Natalya Khorover, Lous Brubaker, Nikki Senecal, Ada Maier-Gehm, Maybe Ruby, Alfhild Brogren, Yvonne Engel, Julie Bourrel, Maybe Alida Chopin, Bernice Tencza, Poe Jean Mei Sze-Tu, C.F., Unknown Chinese Factory Workers, Roxana Keller Brakeley, Pearl Arnold, Zelda or Zora Goda, Ruth Brennan, Grandma Eva Baker, Genevieve Chastain, Great Grandma Mary Frazer, Joanne Scofield, Mary Petri Newman, Lynette Fisk, Laura Newman Krumm, Ruth Krumm Baumgarten, Juliette Delaverhne Bartolini, Lydia Augusta Anna Miller Douglas, Arunthip (Opal) Luechoowong, Lena Scinto-Ferraro, Minnie Baumgarten, Anis Cales, Tammy's Mother, probably Jill's Sister-in-law's Family from Oklahoma, Possibly Denise's Best Friend's Grandmother, Carol Ann Gray Mongeau, Lara Ferguson, Cora May Torrey, Grandmother Helen Brewster Allured, Great Aunts Gertrude & Caroline Brewster, Mother Nancy Burbank Allured, Jennie Dolinar Usenichnik, Grandmother Ruth Akers Dory, Grandmother Frances, Hettie Collie Nickell Harrison + as many as 500-550 Makers Unknown (based on items received).
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Blog posts (last to first):Inheritance: makers. memory. myth. The 27th boxes of mystery. The 26th boxes of mystery. The 25th boxes of mystery. Another box of mystery. The final boxes of mystery. The 22nd boxes of mystery. The 21st boxes of mystery. The 20th boxes of mystery. The 19th boxes of mystery. The 18th boxes of mystery. The 17th boxes of mystery. The 16th boxes of mystery. The 15th boxes of mystery. The 14th boxes of mystery. The 13th boxes of mystery. The 12th boxes of mystery. The 11th boxes of mystery. The 10th boxes of mystery. The 9th boxes of mystery. The 8th boxes of mystery. The 7th box of mystery. The 6th boxes of mystery. The fifth boxes of mystery. The fourth boxes of mystery. A third box of mystery. A second box of mystery. Box of mystery. Splitting open the idea. |