Vivid Recollections
2005
Folder: 9.5 x 13.75

All pieces 9 x 12, mixed media on paper
The following pieces are a series based on memories and personal experiences. They were designed to be held in the folder and viewed as a collective body of work.

Included text: "Each year during the month of May, my mother assembles a "May alter", a homage to the Virgin Mary. This project sparked her excitement when she found a tabletop statue of the Blessed Mother at a church rummage sale. The alter is decorated with fresh flowers, candles, paper stars and a crown for the statue's head. 'Always pray to the Blessed Mother,' she says. 'Say the rosary and Mary will watch out for you.' "

Included text: "When I was little, my parents occasionally brought me to a shrine located on several acres of landscaped grounds. There were many grottos and outdoor chapels and fountains. As a child, it felt magical, and a place that seriously sparked my imagination, which my mother was quick to point out was NOT the idea. Still, I was enchanted. This was a place of incredible beauty and had a mystical quality that is lacking in the Christian religion. For where is man closer to God than in a natural setting? It appeals to our basic desire to commune with the natural world and brings us closer to our own humanity. In nature, in gardens, there is a kind of reverence, of solitude and a sense of connection with the earth."

Included text: "Both my mother and my grandmother were advocates for the assistive powers of St. Anthony. When I was seven years old I misplaced my coin purse in my grandmother's house one day and went running to inform her of the misfortune. 'Ask St. Anthony,' she told me with complete confidence, as if asking for spiritual intercession was the most normal and natural thing in the world."

Included text: "My grandparent's house in Ireland was filled with many curiosities. One such item was a large framed picture of the Sacred Heart hung over the kitchen refrigerator. Installed into the front of the picture frame was a red light which stayed lit continuously, like an eternal flame. There was something perpetually spooky about this: the red glow of the light emitted in the middle of the night when venturing for a glass to get a simple drink of water."

Included text: "I once stood inside a stately cathedral in Ireland and noticed various statues of importance in each corner and alcove. None were as devotedly tended to as the impromptu 'shrine' set up to St. Theresa, which was quaintly adorned with houseplants visitors had brought from home and tree lights strung up on makeshift curtains against the stone walls. It was nothing if not sincere. Perhaps it is Theresa's 'realness' that makes her so appealing."