2016 - 2021: Mo(u)rning Mourning

Sketches and photographs of cemeteries in Northern Vermont, witnessed during daily bicycle rides, were transformed into collagraph plates and printed on kozo papers. The pieces were mounted to Tyvek to become a tapestry. The piece became a site-specific installation for Arts in the Park, in Elkins Park, PA. Cut into the meadow, visitors were welcome to pause inside of the artwork. During the course of the installation, the tapestry became weathered and ultimately deteriorated beyond repair.

Mo(u)rning Mourning was made four years after the death of my father. I had been making work using his tools and materials that I took from his workshop after he passed. During a residency in fall 2016 at Vermont Studio Center - removed from my own studio, I was seeking ways to come to terms with my mourning and move forward. I did not want to forget my mourning period, but celebrate it. As part of my ritual, I biked up and down the mountain and discovered small cemeteries along the way. It reminded me that he had no ‘final resting place’ so I was mourning him everywhere, constantly. I created this collage as a fresh start - a reclaiming of imagery used to remember the past. While its origin story is my own, it remains a universally familiar image for others to seek their own solitude. The pattern is derived from a grave marker in a cemetery in rural Vermont, but it is also a monumental silhouette. It is both celebratory and solemn.