Kudzu

found object assemblage 2020, 48 inches X 12 inches

 

My sister asked me to create a piece based on family memories and to incorporate some family memorabilia including a photo of “the Farm” that belonged to our maternal grandmother “Nana” and grandfather “Papa”.  From my sister:

 

“The Farm", as it was called by Nana, Papa, Neen and Big Daddy, had originally been a 4-room rustic schoolhouse and property with a pine forest and bass lake. Located on Silver Hill Road near the base of Stone Mountain, Georgia.  It featured enormous chunks of granite in the front yard where cousin Linda and I played 'castle', and rows of large square blocks in the side yard, where Papa and I each had a seat. He grew organic tomatoes, scuppernongs and muskidines, and rode his Jeep to the top of Stone Mountain with his 2 Irish Setters (Mike, the mother, and Doodle, the pup) to help the forest service watch for fires from the tower on the top of the mountain. I have memories of fishing, and most precious, hiking the pine forest with Big Daddy to cut a Christmas tree.”

 

Nana and Papa tried living on the Farm on a regular basis, but ultimately opted for their home in Decatur, visiting the farm frequently.  Papa was a lawyer in the city, but a craftsman in the country handcrafting furniture, bows and arrows, and growing grapes as my sister described.  Our family made several trips each year to visit Nana and Papa and other family in and around Atlanta and to visit my father’s family in and around Lafayette, Alabama.  The drive from Atlanta to Lafayette was filled with fields of kudzu climbing up telephone poles, and overtaking barns and other structures – ashes to ashes and dust to dust the earth reclaims.  Incorporated into this piece are pieces of jewelry and a watch face from Nana and her sister (Auntie to us), a photo of Nana as a young girl and a coffee cup from my mother’s wedding china.  Take them out and examine them – mementos of lives lived – people loved and not forgotten.

 

not for sale