Egress

This all started on June 10, 2015 when I took my first photo of a TV antenna.  My parents were both ill and I was driving back and forth between their house and mine a lot and started noticing the TV antennas along the way.  It was an extremely heavy time, but the drives were a pause to reflect and think (if I was alone and my son wasn’t with me asking lots of questions).  I ended up taking 57 photos of TV antennas between June 10, 2015 and April 9, 2022.  (I feel that I probably will still take photos of them, even though this project has ended for now.  It might keep going.) 

Part 1:  The Obsolete:  A crankie in a cigar box with a little security envelope pattern border around the window.  I included 46 of the 57 TV antenna photos in the scroll.  I played static from my dad’s radio and occasionally played single notes on a xylophone (sort of like the tone on tapes or records that accompanied film strips/slideshows to call you to attention to turn to the next image) while scrolling through the photos.  

Part 2:  Intermission:  A zine explaining what led to the TV antenna photos and the security envelope collages.  After the center, it becomes a poem or list of single moments of care given by me to my mom in the days leading up to her death. The last lines: “Ingress/Egress. Static rolling, static.”  An entrance/an exit…..searching for one who left through the static. 

Part 3: Egress:  A large collage (11” x 14”) made from my mom’s mail (security envelopes I’ve saved) and hand stitched (sewing thread inherited from my maternal grandmother and mom) pieces of vinyl with seed beads and a few photos of TV antennas, representing when someone leaves through an exit.  I’m really interested in how the sunlight will interact with the vinyl piece and what the subtly changing shadows throughout each day will add to the piece because it is about change. 

So, in parts 1 and 2, I state “a story of loss and change,” but I do feel that this project is also about the inanimate objects we view and/or things we do or create to keep ourselves intact when everything is disintegrating or changing in uncomfortable ways around us. For me, photographing TV antennas and making collages out of the security envelopes from my mom’s mail (something that caused me a great deal of stress in the weight of the responsibility of handling finances and decisions, etc.) brought me peace and helped me continue through a heavy time.

 

Intermission

https://vimeo.com/795745430

The Obsolete

      

    

*Thanks to my friend Scott for cutting the window out of the cigar box.

 

Postcards from Summer, June 2022

 At the beginning of summer, I attended another BCPS painting workshop for art teachers.  This time we went to North Point State Park for inspiration and I painted a few quick paintings there.  Then over the summer, I worked at home on the rest. In total, I painted 10 "Postcards from Summer." Towards the end of summer, I put stamps on them and mailed them to friends and family.

Condolences and More Condolences, May 2022

My mom died in May 2022.  As the flowers we were sent started to fade and were ready to be tossed, I created these prints by painting them with watercolors and pressing them onto the paper.

 

February 2022-Valentine Magnets

I love making Valentines for family and friends. In 2022, I made a few stitched vinyl Valentine magnets.  French knots are my favorite stitch and I love vinyl because it is a fabric I grew up with (car seats, diner booth benches and saint packets).

 

Summer 2021

At the end of the 2021 school year, I was able to attend a two day plein air painting workshop through the  BCPS's Office of Visual Arts with other art teachers at Day's Cove.  The most exciting part was one of the choices was to go in a canoe to explore the wetlands!  I hadn't been in a canoe since high school.  It was very exciting and I was a little nervous!  We were given cool paint brushes with a receptacle for water attached so we could paint with the water from the river! Here is a painting of Day's Cove.

I had two canoe partners.  One was my friend Jim who I taught with for 7 years at Parkville High many moons ago and the other was another high school art teacher whose name I can't remember.  She had never been in a canoe before, so she rode in the middle.  Jim steered us along from the front and I was in the back.  A few minutes into the water and I dropped my oar while photographing the scenes with my phone!  Thank goodness another art teacher was nearby in her canoe and was able to grab the floating oar and get it back to me! We canoed around, exploring and painting, listening to the breeze through the grasses and the birds.  It was a beautiful day. Here is a painting of my view on our adventure.

One of the days of the workshop was remote.  I painted in my backyard.  I love that we have two mimosa trees!  If I was a bird, I'd live in the mimosa tree. Here is a painting of the mimosa tree in my front yard with a cardinal in it.

Later in the summer, I decided to paint the mimosa tree in our backyard and my son climbed up into the tree saying with glee, "Paint me!  Paint me in the tree!"  So of course I did paint him in the tree!  Later I gave him this painting framed for his room.