‘Of a thursday’, 2020

Shown in St. Olaf Senior Art Show in the Flaten Art Gallery, Northfield, Minnesota, Sept. 4-20, 2020

‘Of a Thursday’ is a spatial meditation on loss, born from the suicide of my mother in early January of 2020. Using the welcoming nature of sunlight, the installation is meant to provide a sense of safety, comfort, and warmth from which to view the piece. One is immersed in the homey, silent, yet full space to reflect on love and loss. Each element is a collage of my mother Treva - her life, and my relationship with her - allowing viewers to enter into our life and, by proxy, my grief. The book, In Permanent January, catalogues my coping through poetry and sketchbook pages while the windchime, a beautiful vessel for sound without the proper conditions to let it sing, carries poems and lyrics that are sacred in their significance. The silent chime stands in for my mother, the singer who didn’t sing at the end. Invisible embroidery frames a snowy imprint, inspired by Ana Mendieta, that captures the important aspects of Treva’s life that mental illness had enshrouded, as they lay hidden away in plain sight. A rug lies as a passageway into the space encouraging viewers to engage with the work; the flowers beneath their feet the same ones found in the snow beside the hearse she was lifted into after the funeral.

Bedsheet, thread, paint, wood disc, wood carved into a dala horse, copper pipes, fishing line, variegated rose, three of Treva's twenty-five race medals, paper, ink, PVA glue, chipboard, book cloth, ribbon, cotton, yarn, yarn of Treva’s hat, artist’s hair pulled since January 9th due to trichotillomania, flower petals from treva’s 47th birthday.

*some images are stills from the virtual tour of the show from the St. Olaf website