Educating at Home

Educating at Home.  Stitched words:  His primary educator for 10 1/2 years.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  Hand stitched and beaded.  Unframed:  25" x 19"; Framed 31" x 25".  Click on image to enlarge.

Carol Mesimer is a talented fiber artist, a Mid-Atlantic state quilt instructor, and the designer of many beautiful appliquéd pieces.  She is also an advocate for a quality education even if it means home schooling a child that the public school didn't challenge adequately. 

Her son is very, very intelligent.  Years ago, the school expected him to "stay with his class".  Carol knew he needed more.  She provided it through high school! 

I stitched the portrait using lots of gold star sequins meant as rather obvious symbols of a great job done in the classroom!  I also tried to stitch a few gold metallic threads around Carol's face in order to draw attention to her.  This was her choice, her decision.  Raising children is difficult enough; she took on even more work!

In 2010 when stitching this portrait, Carol and her son are still traveling together.  He was into computers, F-1, and NASCAR racing while looking for an ideal job.  When asked about the experience of having his mother as a primary instructor, he said, "There were times when I thought nearly anything would be an improvement to learning at home from Mom, but thinking back, I got to travel a lot, we did things other kids couldn't, and it really was a lot of fun."

Expatriate

 

Expatriate.  Stitched words: I left the USA to pursue artistic opportunities; Ballet Dancer. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand stitched and beaded. 25" x 19" unframed; 31" x 25" framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

This is my elder son Mathias Lenz Dingman. (http://www.brb.org.uk/masque/index.htm?act=Person&urn=25187) This portrait was created during his fourth year with Birmingham Royal Ballet at which time he was promoted to "First Artist". He is a citizen of the United States of America, files annual income tax here, uses our address as his "permanent" place of residency for US government documents, and returns "home" to visit us.... and his dentist and his eye doctor. His entire professional career, however, has been danced in a foreign country.... in England. That makes him an "expatriate".  (Since then, Mathias was promoted to "Soloist" in 2011 and to "First Soloist" in 2012.  Obviously, Steve and I are proud parents!)

At first, Mathias was concerned about the title. Instantly, he (like many people) assumed that the word included a dislike for one's country, something lacking patriotism and respect. That isn't the case! Here's a definition from Wikipedia:

An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin term expatriātus from ex ("out of") and patriā the ablative case of patria ("country, fatherland").

Wikipedia goes on to say: In its broadest sense, an expatriate is any person living in a different country from where he or she is a citizen. In common usage, the term is often used in the context of professionals sent abroad by their companies, as opposed to locally hired staff (who can also be foreigners). The differentiation found in common usage usually comes down to socio-economic factors, so skilled professionals working in another country are described as expatriates, whereas a manual labourer who has moved to another country to earn more money might be labelled an 'immigrant'. There is no set definition and usage does vary depending on context and individual preferences and prejudices.

This is definitely Mathias! He's a highly skilled professional living and working in a different country. He loves both places. So why did he accept a job in England? Well, the opportunity with Birmingham Royal Ballet offered more performances per season, better pay, better benefits, and a chance to advance with one of the world's very best companies. He became an expatriate for artistic opportunities.

The words on his portrait are intentionally similar to the words on the Decision Portrait called Immigrants.  The two people who posed for Immigrants are Mathias' friends. They live in Columbia, South Carolina. They came to the USA for artistic opportunities.

All three made the same decision.... to leave their homeland for a chance to dance more often, for more money, and for all the other factors that figure into "artistic opportunities". The titles are different only from point of view … from which country the decision is considered.

Family Role Models

 

Family Role Models, Decision Portrait Series. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Framed 31" x 37"; unframed 25" x 31". Stitched words: Go to work Mom; Stay at home Dad.  Click on image to enlarge.

I order to find “models” for this series, I talked about it….A LOT…to anyone who would list.  Word of mouth works....but slowly. Many of my early conversations about the Decision Portraits included someone telling me, "You should get a Facebook page". I was reluctant. I needed another Internet connection like a "whole in the head". I didn't want to be part of something called a social network. Yet, I did really, really want to connect with people...promote my series as a way to find new portraits.

In March 2009 I finally gave in....went to Facebook....created a profile...uploaded Decision Portraits into a photo album...and hoped for the best.

The BEST happened. Facebook put me in touch with hundreds of people and resulted in several portraits...including this one! I went to Slippery Rock Area High School with the great guy in these photos...back in the 70s....we graduated in 1977. Yet, we'd completely lost touch...until Facebook.

He's everything that a husband and father strive to be: kind, patient, loving, understanding, compassionate, honest, reliable, trusting and trustworthy, passionate, and spiritually good. He describes his lovely wife with touching words of sincere endearment and total respect. Their partnership is strong and deep. They are adoring parents. The years have brought hardships and joys, including bouts with breast cancer and a child born with a disability. Yet, the joys come in part from the closeness of shared values and shared decisions. She's a "go-to-work" Mom; he's supportive and proud. He's a "stay-at-home" Dad; she's supportive and proud. I'm honored to have stitched this work. I thank them both for sharing their choices.,,,,and thank Facebook for putting us together after so many years!

Stereotypical gender roles are something I really only know from television reruns of impossible sitcoms that I don't even watch and never saw when originally aired. It isn't part of my life. I'm happily married to another wonderful man.... who cooks, cleans, does the shopping and laundry, pays the bills, mows the lawn, takes out the trash, calculates the taxes, and works along side me at our business Mouse House. My husband Steve has assumed all these household chores in order that I have time in my studio to pursue fiber arts. He knows that I need time to make the artwork and time to do all the "paperwork" associated with being a professional artist. One of the "paperwork" tasks is to submit for solo show opportunities.

I started submitting the Decision Portrait Series in the spring of 2009.  While stitching this portrait in the spring of 2010, I signed TWO exhibition contracts for the work. One was for a large installation at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park in Charleston, SC during the MOJA 2010 festival, September - October, 2010. The other is a smaller show at Waterworks Gallery in Salisbury, NC for spring 2011. I've over the moon about these venues!

Both these shows went well.  Curated groups of Decision Portraits have been shown elsewhere and will be featured in a solo exhibition sponsored by Quilts, Inc. at the 2012 International Festival of Quilts in Houston, TX from November 1 - 4.  The entire series is then going to Vision Gallery in Chandler, AZ from January 11th through the month of March.

Fighting Illiteracy

 

Fighting Illiteracy.  Stitched words: Learn to Read at Any Age; I teach; I learn; We did it! So can you! Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand stitched. 25" x 31" unframed; 31" x 37" framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

Judy (http://stitchalongwithme.blogspot.com) is a passionate fiber artist who has volunteered her time and generous patience since the 1980s to fighting illiteracy by helping people learn to read. Sure...Judy is an advocate for reading to and teaching children. Yet, she doesn't stop there. She tirelessly teaches adults too.

It takes a lot of courage to admit an inability to read. It takes a brave, mature adult to seek help with literacy. It is an act of faith to trust a fiber artist to depict this choice in stitches. I am truly honored to have been given this opportunity to create this Decision Portrait.

This is a story of two equally important decisions. There's the decision to teach and the decision to learn. Together, illiteracy is fought.

Judy provided an important link to ProLiterary  (http://www.proliteracy.org/) for additional resources. She also suggested two very interesting books: The Teacher Who Couldn't Read and Life is So Good: One Man's Extraordinary Journey through the 20th Century and How He Learned to Read at Age 98.

First Love

 

First Love.  Stitched words:  I married my high school sweetheart; Ditto; May 25, 1979.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  Hand beaded and stitched.  25” x 31” unframed; 31” x 37” framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

Cindi and Bob went on their very first date the week before she turned sixteen years old.  They got married when she was twenty and celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2009.  They have two beautiful, college educated, talented daughters.  They're a great couple.  Steve and I have known them for over a decade.

One of the "secrets" to a successful marriage is the ability to be both a "couple" as well as "two individuals".  These are two special people, with their own special lives! Cindi is a feminist, an award winning professional writer, an adjunct professor in the Women's and Gender Studies department at the University of South Carolina, and the editor of Jasper Magazine, a local arts publication in Columbia, South Carolina. Bob is a very busy emergency room physician.  He's also a home brewer and beer connoisseur/expert/aficionado.... with impeccable taste (even if he insists the dark beer is good!)   The two own Muddy Ford Press, a publishing company for South Carolina based or themed authors.

Together, Cindi and Bob love to travel.  They research food and beverages. There was the "year of wine" and the "year of beer" and years for various international cuisines.  They support visual arts, literary arts, and dance.  Time together is enriched by time involved with all sorts of other people, interests, and through trust.   

Since I, too, married my "first love" (though I met Steve during my very first week at The Ohio State University), I can safely say that Cindi and Bob "grew up together".  Steve and I grew up together too.  We celebrated every step we took, apart and together, into the world of adulthood.  There was never a "his" and "hers".  There has only ever been an "ours".  Undoubtedly, one of the best decisions we all made was who to love forever!

For Science

 

For Science.  Stitched words:  My body will be donated to a medical school.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  Unframed:  25" x 19"; framed:  31" x 25".  Hand embroidered and beaded.  Click on image to enlarge.

Rita Blockson is a talented fiber artist who works in quilting and felting.  She is also a life long educator and author.  Her work is wonderful and she's always passing on her extensive knowledge through classes, quilting guilds, and various other activities.  Yet, there's something very special about Rita's generosity that is most unexpected.   Rita has left her body to a medical school.....volunteering it for the sake of science.

Rita knows that her heart is generous but it is also INTERESTING.  Why?  Well, the first open heart surgery was performed in 1952.  At five months of age Rita became a "pioneer" in this field....in 1953!  She underwent open-heart surgery again at age seven, 1959.  By 1993 she was diagnosed with serious heart problems again.  She was not expected to survive the impending heart surgery but knew her lifelong health issues made her an excellent candidate for scientific studies at the medical school.  She signed the donation papers.

Rita wrote, "Little did I know the can of worms that I opened ... because the Dean of the medical school had to get involved in the donation to ensure that Jason (her son), as a current medical student, did not "encounter" me in a classroom situation."  Fortunately, things didn't come to that.  Rita is alive and well....quilting, felting, and teaching in Arizona.  The donation form is still valid....for when the time comes!

I stitched the portrait using some of the artificial flowers collected from cemetery dumpsters.  To some people, that might sound odd because Rita will not necessarily have a gravesite of her own.  Yet, I know that medical schools are very, very respectful.  I've been to the medical school cemetery for the University of South Carolina.... and it does have artificial flower arrangements!  Flowers are given as a sign of respect and that's why I added them to this portrait.  The sterling silver pin was from a "box lot" I bought at a local auction house.  It wanted it to be used for "something special".

There's one more thing about this piece that I can't fail to mention.  Rita's health issues undoubtedly influenced her son's decision to work in the medical field.  He did finish school and is a talented pediatric plastic surgeon doing craniofacial work at Payton Manning Children's Hospital.  He has performed MIRACLES in Guatemala with the Hirsche Smiles group out of Utah...27 cleft palette operations in only seven days.

Foreigner

 

Foreigner. 25" x 19". Hand stitching and beading. Free motion machine embroidery. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Stitched words: Foreigner; Tajikistan is a beautiful, mountainous country; My first trip was to experience a new culture; My 2nd trip was for a college education. Pin-on, plastic name badge holder with paper image of the Tajikistan flag and words: I'll return home to make a difference.  Click on image to enlarge.

The word "foreigner" often conjures up dark and scary images, unfamiliar people, unknown places, and strangers. This is generally a misconception! I'm so very, very pleased that this Decision Portrait shows a beautiful, young college student from Tajikistan, a country internationally known for its fine embroidery. It is hard to imagine her decision but she made it. She was willing to leave her family, her country, and her familiar surroundings in order to travel half way around the world to another culture. She's done this twice...willingly becoming a foreigner. She's had to learn another language, other customs, other traditions, and face the misconceptions people have of those from far off places, especially those from Muslim countries. She's was amazing young college freshman when this photo was originally taken in January 2009. I am proud to have stitched this story.

Friend to Those in Prison, Prisoner I and II

 

Friend to Those in Prison.  Stitched words:  Letters + Visits that Touch Lives.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  Hand beaded and stitched.  25" x 19" unframed; 31" x 25" framed. Click on image to enlarge.

Barbie Mathis (www.barbiemathis.com) is a talented, professional artist.  Her watercolors carry a distinctive, naturalistic style, vibrant colors, and glazes of atmospheric depth.  She's also a lovely person, inside and out; so, it came as no surprise to me that she extends herself to others.  What I didn't know until embarking on the Decision Portrait Series is that Barbie generously shares hope with several people who are incarcerated. 

She told me how it all started.  There was a bank robbery in West Columbia.  The police captured all of the robbers....except one....who was known to be lurking in an affluent neighborhood.  Everyone was scared.  Barbie and her church prayer group prayed for all those living in the area.  The bank robber was finally apprehended after trying to high-jack a car at gunpoint. 

Then, the newspaper carried an article in which the "villain" was described as having been a popular high school graduate and an active former church member.  Barbie was stunned.  She'd been praying for everyone involved except the one person that likely needed it most....the bank robber.  She went to visit him.  She's been writing to him ever since and to several of his friends.  Barbie spreads words of hope and forgiveness.

 

 

Prisoner II.  Stitched words:  I robbed a bank.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  Hand stitched and beaded.  Unframed:  25" x 19"; Framed:  31" x 25".  Click on image to enlarge.

Barbie took the photo I used to create the portrait above.....right through the Plexi-Glas prison barrier.  The young man will not be part of the general population for years but will be ready for that day when it comes.  He's got a connection to something good, to hope, to religion, and to someone who cares enough to write letters.  It makes a difference.

I'm sure this young man agreed to participate in this series because of Barbie's positive influence.  He hopes that someone will see his image and think about the humanity that really is part of prison life.  He hopes, like Barbie and I hope, that there might be viewers at the upcoming exhibitions who have friends or relatives in prison.  Perhaps, coming face-to-face with his outward staring eyes, these people will be prompted to reach out and communicate a word or two of hope.  It would make a difference.

 Prisoner I.  Stitched words:  I let drugs nearly ruin my LIFE.  Hand stitched and beaded.  Unframed:  25" x 19"; Framed:  31" x 25".  Click on image to enlarge.

The lady in this portrait is also in prison.  I was put in touch with her through another source.  Our method of communication is by letters.  She wrote about her life, how she neglected her children, herself, and everything she held most dear while spiraling down into a world of lawless drug use.  

In prison, she found hope.  She writes to her family.  They write to her.  It makes a difference.  She is very upfront about her crimes, her mistakes, and her recovery.  In order to share her decisions, she sent me a photo.  I scanned it.  This portrait is the result.  The blog post written about this trio of portraits was printed, put into an envelope, and mailed to her.  She hopes that those seeing her image will reflect on it.... see a transformed woman.... see both the mistakes and the corrections.  Life is a series of decisions.  None of us have made all the "right" ones.  All of us must decide how to handle the poorer ones we've made and how to react to people who paid for their mistakes with prison time.

From Preaching to Teaching

 

From Preaching to Teaching. 25" x 19", unframed; 31" x 25", framed. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand embroidered. Stitched words: Leaving the ministry gave me the freedom to express all religious viewpoints without being an official spokesman for only one; Once Ordained.  Click on image to enlarge.

The Decision Portrait Series includes several pieces with spiritual decisions, among them: Priest, Rabbi, Buddhist, Atheist, Muslim, and Christian. These were all ideas from my original “Wish List”.  I hadn't, however, thought about someone who identifies with the concept of pluralism! This is actually strange because I totally agree! After all, I see all these portraits hanging together, coexisting, part of a larger exhibition! I am indebted to my friend Cindi Boiter for making this suggestion and to Facebook for aiding the connection. Yet, most of all I am indebted to Hal French.  (http://www.cas.sc.edu/RELG/facbios/french.html).

Hal French agreed to pose for this piece.  We had a wonderful, insightful conversation when I took the photo. I also enjoyed just being in his office. Hanging on the wall was an oil painting by my mentor Stephen Chesley.  The image was used on the cover of The University of South Carolina Press's edition of Hal French's book Zen and the Art of Everything ....which has also been published elsewhere, receiving all sorts of glowing reviews!

Gift of Life

 

Gift of Life. Stitched words: She saw her mother's driver’s license and said, "If anything ever happens to me, I want to be an organ donor too"; After a terrible car crash, her parents honored her decision; Seven lives...were Saved.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand beading and embroidery.  25" x 35", unframed. 31" x 41", framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

April is NATIONAL DONATE LIFE MONTH. I created this significant portrait completely during the month of April 2009 and was honored to share it with people coming into my studio during the annual spring art gallery crawl in Columbia’s Vista area later in the month.  I was spreading awareness.....so.....think about making this powerful decision!  Think about signing the back of your driver's license as an organ donor or go to Donate Life America (http://www.donatelife.net/index.php) to SIGN UP!

Honestly, the worst thing that could ever happen is exactly what happened to these parents…the loss of a child.  While still in the midst of shocking grief, they went against their traditional Catholic traditions for a “complete” burial in order to do something positive for others.  They honored their daughter’s wishes to be an organ donor.  

I am registered organ donor.... but I wanted to do more.  Creating this portrait was my artistic expression to do that little extra bit of help. I also created yet another blog...just for this portrait. It serves as a tutorial for making these works....a step by step set of instructions for the xylene photo transfer process with several photos taken by my mentor, Stephen Chesley.  I’m wearing the "extremely fashionable" ventilation mask while transferring the images. The blog can be found at http://giftoflifedecisionportraitseries.blogspot.com.

Graffiti Artist

 

Graffiti Artist. No stitched words. Reproduction "tag". Hand stitched and beaded. Spray paint and found objects. 25" x 19" unframed"; 31" x 25" framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

I came into contact with Juliane Lofquist-Birch’s blog (http://julaine.blogspot.com) from the moment I started posting on my own blog. We've corresponded about embroidery, admired one another's art, and left positive blog comments of support. One day, however, I received a message from Juliane suggesting her son Jason for my Decision Portrait Series.

She wrote, " (My son) has developed into quite the stencil artist, and last year, he decided to share a "doodle" and some of his tags with the city. Oops, got into a little trouble and did some community service and paid a fine."

For this Decision Portrait, I had originally suggested using stitched words with the piece.... something like "tagging, caught, fined".

Later, however, I decided to just use a reproduction of one of Jason's tags. Not all graffiti artist illegally deface public and private property. Jason doesn't do this anymore either; yet, he's still working in this new, exciting art genre. It is an artistic decision to use spray paint, incorporate text and symbols, and reflect an urban consciousness. It is a decision where and on what to create these artworks too!

 

Personally, I find graffiti totally mesmerizing. There's a special place in Columbia that I've photographed....just full of graffiti.  I love this place.  I'm also totally against random graffiti on most buildings but think "there a time and place for everything", including graffiti. I love the bright colors, the spontaneous combustion of energy, the gestural marks, and the way graffiti takes into account the found elements of the walls on which it is placed.

 

So, to stitch this decision, I wanted to add a few found objects that suggested an industrial area, a little "grunge" and urban "dirt", but especially the spectrum of color available in spray paint. Years ago I was given dozens of rayon threads.... bright, shiny, liquid looking. I decided to use these. I stitched and stitched. The result looked DREADFUL.... like a childhood whimsy of color or a gay pride rainbow. (Neither of these things are "bad".... just totally inappropriate for the vision of this piece!)

I stood back for a minute and then knew exactly what to do. ADD BLACK SPRAY PAINT. I took a deep breath and sprayed directly onto my artwork, right on the stitches, over the nuts and bolts. IT WAS FUN! The results were great! I added the reproduction of on of Jason's tags.... and the portrait was finished.

For a moment, I felt a little of the exuberance and youthful thrill of having a spray paint can in my hands. It was awesome.... and scary.... spraying on my own work.   Yes, I wore my ventilation mask. Jason wears one too. He's still creating works of art.... stencil and spray.... just legally now! He's an artist making his mark!

I hope those seeing the portrait will think about graffiti and see a "real face" behind the "tags". I hope those who are illegally "tagging" think about getting caught. I hope those who hate graffiti come to realize that it can be done legally. There's a lot to consider about this topic.... to spray or not to spray.... to deface public property or not....to wear proper equipment or risk one's health....plenty of decisions!

Gun Owner

 

Gun Owner, Decision Portrait Series.  Hand embroidery and beading.  25" x 19" unframed; 31" x 25" framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

Some Decision Portraits require lots of stitched words.  Some need none at all.  This one is totally self-explanatory.  I first saw Bobby at Bill Mishoe’s auction months ago.  He was wearing this t-shirt.  I thought to myself, "This would make a GREAT decision portrait!  There's a clear option...a selection...a decision.....right there in the words!"  There was a slight problem though.  The words appeared on the back of the t-shirt.  So, I didn't approach him.  Yet, he came to the next auction wearing the same t-shirt.  I couldn't resist.  I introduced myself saying, "Hi, I'm a local artist creating pieces called Decision Portraits.  I'd like to make one of you in that t-shirt ... if you'll wear it backwards."

Fortunately, Bobby didn't think I was a total lunatic.  We later met at his house.  I explained the concept and we browsed through the Decision Portrait series blog.  He put on his t-shirt, backwards and I snapped the photos. 

I selected the various shell beads because they sort of reminded me of miniature "targets".  The only other stitching needed was a running stitch outline around Bobby and a backstitched red thread around the check mark.  Personally, I'll NEVER own a gun.  This is part of the beauty of the Decision Portrait Series ... no one decision is "right" for everyone!  

Happily Ever After Again

 

Happily Ever After Again. Stitched words: 1994 Married 1995 Divorced 2009 Remarried. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand beaded and stitched. Unframed 25" x 31"; Framed: 31" x 37".  Click on image to enlarge.

Love and marriage! They're complicated matters for many.... and I'm really glad I don't fully understand the emotional toll of a significant break up. I met my husband Steve during an Ohio State football game. I'd been a college freshman for less than two weeks. He was a first year graduate student. I wouldn't date him for months thinking he was "too old" for me.... twenty-two. I really had no serious experience with guys at all. I was scared. But, once I gave in, we became a couple.... waiting for the "right time" to get married. Had it not been for college tuition, the need to introduce one another to our parents, and all the other social requirements of an actual ceremony, I would have married Steve within a month. That was in the fall of 1977. We got married in 1981.... and have joked that the only way out of this relationship is for one of us to die..., which is only a "joke" because it is true.

Over the years, we've had many friends suffer the pains of divorce, failed relationships, and the problems of being both "married" to the "wrong" person as well as "being single" when a relationship was most wanted. I've come to appreciate my own happiness on a deeper level. Love and marriage really are complicated. There's no "easy" answer.

When asked why our relationship works, we don't have a "magic" formula. What seems "simple" to us really isn't "easy". So many external factors could change everything in an instant. What brought us together, what keeps us together, what could drive up apart, and what would allow us to find one another life partner is as complicated as the road these two people have walked. Once they were married, then divorced; but they found one another again.

Happy Family

 

Happy Family. Stitched words: Max and his Mommys, Mommy Lori, Mommy Janet. Xylene Transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand beading and stitching. 25" x 31" unframed. 31" x 37" framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

This was the first in the series to really use any colors and I'm pleased with the results. I knew that this portrait had to reflect a childlike happiness. The rainbow is perfect and simultaneously almost the colors found in the Gay Pride flag...except I didn't use two blues, indigo and cyan.

I've known Lori for years and years. She's the owner of my favorite fabric shop, The House of Fabric, also known as Chez Fabrique. Her grandfather started it and until the summer of 2010 he lived above the Main Street shop. Her parents founded and ran the professional theater here in Columbia, Trustus (until their retirement in 2012). As a result, the very best, most interesting, totally exotic, and every other "good" type of fabric for weddings, theater, dance, and specialty is just up the street from me.

Lori, Janet, and Max came by my studio to have this photo snapped and to sign official “models’ releases’. Even Max scribbled his name on the paper.  This truly is a wonderful family.

I used three different kinds of clear sequins under the variety of colored beads and am thrilled with the finished artwork.  The “family” is thrilled too.

He Wanted to Die at Home

He Wanted to Die at Home.  Stitched words:  I refused to put my father in a home; Three years of loving care until he died.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  Hand stitched. 25” x 19 unframed; 31” x 25” framed.  Click on image to enlarge.

Rhonda Hall is a talented, self-taught photographer who also works in mixed media.  She creates wonderful work, writes passionately about our environment and has a great blog.  (http://artfulexpresscreativelife.blogspot.com)

Rhonda also understands the concept behind my Decision Portrait Series and knew I wanted to present straightforward decisions without value judgment.  To do this, I often need to depict more than one option for a particularly difficult situation.  An earlier portrait, On Dealing with Alzheimer's, resonated with Rhonda.  She has worked as a nurse and has dealt with the myriad of issues involved with caring for the elderly.  She understands the choice to find professional care outside the home.  Rhonda's mother died in a hospital when she was only twelve.  Thus, when it came to her father, she made another choice...one that required tireless, loving care for three years.  Rhonda volunteered to share this with me through stitches.

The decisions every generation faces in handling their elder relatives can be stressful.  What is right for one person really isn't necessarily right for another.  Rhonda's loving care was a decision that required a great deal of work.  It was the best thing she could do.