Me and my babies in my studio
Photo by Megan S. Wyeth
I am inspired by the beliefs and spiritual practices of our global ancestors. The tangible shards of their existence, both common-place and esoteric, are fascinating objects, clues through which we can study their ways and honor their lives.
I salvage discarded relics for materials with which to give form to the ideas that come to me in my own daily life. It pleases me to give a found or cast-off object, such as an embroidered cloth butterfly potholder or a scrap of linoleum, new significance by incorporating it into a piece I am creating.
I am often intrigued by odd bits of knowledge and information gleaned from my reading or that I hear on community and public radio programs. A story or anecdote may pique my interest, and if it stays with me, I then contemplate how to transmute its message into physical form. These inspirations will lead me to select a memento that speaks to me, and at that point ideas intertwine with craft as I hand-sew chosen relics with leather and European glass seed beads.
For me, the interrelationship of ideas and artifacts represents a holistic link between past and present, between spirit and physicality. As an artist and a preservationist, I feel my role is to wipe away the cobwebs of antiquity, and to preserve and reanimate the relics of our forebears by integrating them into new works with a life and a story of their own.