Interwoven
Activities that began as a hobby have found their way into this body of photographic work. The use of crochet, knitting, and tatting, and fabrics create surfaces on which to print images using a variety of processes. This process began with a focus on the physical objects being created, which then shifted into the my ancestors’ involvement with these craft. This then morphed into my own involvement with the crafts as well as the process of creating what is being shown. By showing myself creating these pieces through self-portraits and images of my hands, the art forces the viewer to think of the duality of the pieces, having them view the exhibition both in progress through imagery and as a finished result in person.
The methods of printing these images also serves to further the idea of the relevancy of older techniques and practices, even in this modern age. The practice of knitting and crocheting began centuries ago, but it is still extremely popular today, despite the ease and ability to buy clothing. Similarly, despite the many modern advancements in technology, analog processes are once again gaining popularity. The majority of these pieces being shown were made by using the cyanotype and silver-gelatin printing processes, which are both comparatively old to the technology of inkjet printing. The use of a digital camera and other modern technologies to capture and print these photographs, however, contrasts heavily with the outdated methods of these printing. This series is able to effectively combine the old and the modern to highlight how these certain practices have stood the test of time and are still ever-present in our society that is consumed by the latest technologies. With the growing need for instantaneity in the world today, these pieces argue for the beauty of delayed gratification.
Mary Jane Alden Rogers
My Great (4) Grandmother
“The oldest surviving quilt from my mother’s family was made by Mary Jane Alden Rodgers. She was born in Louisiana in 1838. Her family descended from John Alden and Priscilla Mullens of the Mayflower voyage.”
My Great Grandmother
“My mother used to embroider. And she would always buy embroidery thread. When she passed there must've been thousands of different colors of embroidery thread. Now she would get it, so in case she would, she needed something she would have it now. Once one I got to be a teenager, I don't ever remember much of anything, but I do remember her embroidery kind of like the grandmothers did.”
My Grandmother
“As Ann grew up in Gravette, Arkansas, she slept under quilts and she learned to sew. She was a natural for the new quilt generation. Ann married Robert (Bob) Gruebel in 1968 and moved to Texas.”
My Grandmother
“We lived with my Grandma because she had a heart problem. She would spend hours sitting in front of the dining room bay window crocheting intricate doilies. I was eight when she started teaching me how to crochet. I have crocheted for 68 years now and still love it!”
My Great Grandmother
“My mom, Gussie Finkenthal was born in NYC 2/29/16. Her folks were from Poland. Mom didn’t go to college but designed wedding gowns. She was always very good at design and with needles. The first picture was at our house in Argentina in the 60s. The full picture was the 5 of our immediate family. The second picture was at the Houston Yacht Club around 1975.”
My Great Grandmother
“taken in 1931 when she graduated from Penn State University with her degree in home economics. Your dad was asking which of your great grandmothers tatted, and this is the one. She sewed and then would edge the baby dresses or pillowcases with tatting”
My Great Great Step Grandmother
“My mother's mother died right after I was born, actually. And so my grandfather remarried. And the woman he married, she was she was into all this sort of stuff, too. But back then, you didn't have a propeller pillow slip unless she had some kind of tatting or a embroidery or some kind of lace that you made. And then you added that to it, or you did embroidery work on the pattern and where you would actually embroidery a pattern. Things like aprons were always had embroidery work on them. And then the crocheted doilies and things.”
My Mother
“She took home ec. that back when they actually taught sewing and she always liked to do a little knitting project kind of things where you go to the store and you buy a little kit and you, Oh, and I made a I made a latch hook rug thing. And actually I bought it and I did about a little three by three inch piece. And then I was going crazy. So I gave it to her and she finished the whole thing. So she just enjoyed doing those kind of I don't.”
Rosena Sarney Gruebel
My Great Great Grandmother
“My father's - so that would be your great grandmother - so my father's mother would do. And my mother's mother, I can't really remember her doing anything, but stepmother - her stepmother doing. And so they were always doing that kind of stuff when we visited. And then when they'd give you things, they would be at that kind of handwork on it. One of them one of them was the round flower doily.”