the outside, 1993, 5 feet x 5 feet x 1/2 inch 
the phases of the moon, hand stitch 
glossy magazine papers 
collected, sorted, machine stitched 
Reverse side. The inside of the north wall 
film photographs taken through the north windows of our house in Kenora, North Western Ontario. 
nearly twenty years ago 
I took one photo a day for one year (1990) from one of the windows of our house. 
When I documented our life in this way, I had no idea that we would soon be moving south, to Manitoulin Island.
8 comments:
wow, love the houses and all the details and the daily photographs
this reminds me of me. ((and probably a lot of moms)) that endless stare out the windows.
i so enjoy this one.
this is SO cool...can't wait to show my students this piece...what a great idea
I love, love this.
How methodical your dedication-even your stitches-how persistent, clear and poignant your eye for the image, color and design elements, and what amazing documents these are-life as art-the art of a lifetime-You are really something else. Judy. something entirely else.
I want to ask about the photographs:
did you transfer them to cloth, or put the actual (one says paper photographs) snapshots on the cloth--and did they fray or tear or crackle? Did you apply anything but stitching to stabilize them? I'll check back hoping for an answer or you can email me if you have time. I'm home with snivels, sneezels and cotton brains.
I remember this piece from a show at Harbourfront! Lovely.
Serena, when you said that about the windows...it is so true about moms. This piece also makes me think of you because you have to move out of your house soon, don't you.
Michelle, these are real (paper) photographs, not transfers. They are real magazine papers as well. I said film photographs to differentiate them from digital - these were snapshots developed at the drug store. I got doubles of all the photos I took that year.
Before I stitched them with machine i might have put a dab of glue on the back with a glue stick, but I might not have either. Usually when I stitch paper, I just have the exact arrangement lined up beside the sewing machine, and place the papers one by one under the needle and proceed slowly.
I wore out my sewing machine on this piece. There are four walls altogether - each with two sides of paper.
Yes, that's another technical thing to note. The two sides are joined at their tops at the bottom of the 'roof'. The outside is sewn directly to the single piece of canvas that extends down from the dyed roof, but the 'inside' - the photo side, is stitched along with the fabrics that make up that part, to a piece of warm and
natural quilt batt.
That's a lot of technical info.
Thank you everyone for your comments and support. I wish that this house could go into a permanent collection somewhere instead of being folded up in my closet for twenty years. Oh well.
get better soon, Michelle. x
geez judy at this point i HOPE so.
we're still here a year later, though we continue to show with alarming frequency. two, three times a week.
it's amazing that people will waste both our time and theirs and have no approval or security that they can in fact obtain a loan.
i'd love to go at this point. i'm worn down watching michael be worn down.
i cease to understand but know we must be learning something of value through this experience.
and thank you. you, your work, your blog, your sharing...it's a real high point to my day.
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