My current work explores the idea of protection. It's based on my own experiences as the recipient of handmade objects from women in my family that protected me from the cold as a child, for example. As I've grown older, I've made things for loved ones to protect or comfort them as well. In many cultures, items of clothing were embroidered or embellished to provide protection to the wearer. The new works on paper incorporate embroidery and image transfers on fabric to reference these traditions.
I'm continuing to use items I've inherited from my grandparents in these pieces, as I did in my last series. The geometric elements are derived from my grandpa's railroad books and steam engine reference manuals. Some images are scanned and used as transfers, and others are drawn in loosely based versions of specific diagrams. The handwriting is from my grandma's knitting patterns and notes which are scanned and transferred onto fabric or encaustic. I think of these items as my own personal library of symbols.
In these pieces, I'm combining my past and my present into something new that reflects my own personal aesthetic.