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| "What is not to be" |
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| "What is not to be", Detail |
For the better part of this semester I have been using the content of a letter written to me from my Mother. This was written when I had just left home to begin my Air Force career and my mother was expressing her loss over her "little girl being all grown up" and "spreading her wings". This letter marks a crucial turning point in both our lives. Our relationship would never be the same again. Over the subsequent years we have tried to maintain our bond but it has been tenuous at best. This has made me realize that sometimes what is lost it can never be regained.
Using the actual letter as the material or this work I copied, shredded, cut and formed the paper into circles then dipped these circles into wax. I joined these "letter circles" by crocheting them to each other creating a dangling web like structure. I choose to use crochet for two reasons; first because it was my mothers craft of choice when I was a child and second because she never taught me how to crochet, I learned by using tutorial internet videos. The relationship between the content of the letter and the fact that she did not pass on this traditional women's craft before I left home to make my own way in the world is a key component of this piece.
