Memories of Mother
My Navajo Rug series is about childhood memories and how hard my mother worked to feed our family. She has been a big influence on my work on so many levels. This series is in honor of my Mother. I remember her making purses out of woven rugs. She put so much work into them but the thing that she was most proud of was the silk that she lined them with. I never quite understood that since, it seemed to me, the rug designs should have been the "Wow" factor. I was the assistant in this process by helping with the spinning of the yarn and getting everything together. We would end our days by my walking on her aching back to get the kinks out. As her purses became a big hit other weavers started to copy them. So my Mother branched out into making clutches and other handbags. I don’t think she really saw this as a business but just a means to feed her family. The memory of she and I working together taught me a lot about what it takes to get things done and to keep experimenting, overcoming and moving forward. In honor of Mother I keep one piece, that’s never going to be finished, on view. It is like the Spirit Line in a weaving that keeps the spirit from getting trapped. The Spirit Line series is a new series that branches off from the Navajo Rug series to keep honoring mother.
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