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| Nana on her wedding day |
Valentine's Day, February 14, 2000 was Nana's funeral. I refused to look
into the open casket wanting to hold onto my memories of her in her
living room, cozy in her chair, knitting and watching TV. We grew up in a
duplex with her living on one side of the house and while we lived on
the other. The cellar stairs worked as our passage way over to her side,
especially when mom said no the ice cream at the end of a meal. Nana
always came through with some maple walnut.
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| The blanket Nana knit for me as a wedding present |
I especially missed her on July 25, 2015 when I got married. She knit a
white blanket for me and told me that I could have it when I got
married. Since it took me quite some time to get married, not long after
she passed, my mom offered me that blanket. I told her to hold onto it
until I got married as Nana intended. She would joke with me that that
day may never come while the blanket remained in the basement closet.
That July, I took the blanket. It was one way to have Nana with us.
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| On our wedding day |
Seventeen years later on Valentine's Day I find myself weaving pieces of
her wedding gown together with part of my own wedding gown into a new
fabric. This has been my main project while here at the Mass MoCA artist
residency. As I prepared the big loom for weaving, her dress was looming in
the background...
It took me a few days to prepare the large floor loom here at the Maker's
Mill and another day before I was ready to cut the dress. I started by
removing the sleeves. After the first couple of cuts it got easier...
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| Nana's dress and my dress |
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| Pieces ready for weaving |
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| A detail of the woven fabric |
Nana had always been supportive of my art making. She let me use her
extra room upstairs as my studio. It was a place to play music, make
things and store the work I had been doing in college. Although she was
never fond of the figure studies. She would turn all the paintings and
drawing of nude models around each time she went in the room. She was
the person who supplied me with my first studio to work in. All these
years later, she is still supporting me. Love you Nana.
In memory of Catherine Champy, born on September 20, 1911 and died on February 10, 2000.
