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Friday, February 09, 2007

My Dad


I love doing these types of collages--heirloom collages, where people give me a handful of stuff re a person and I sort through it, make archival copies, and put together a collage using them. This one's of my dad. I did it a year ago, in Ann Baldwin's class at Art and Soul-Asilomar. I worked on it more after I got home, and I've had it hanging in a prominent place ever since. The big photo is from a snapshot taken of him when he was in his early twenties; the picture of the car is a shot of him at the family farm in Northern Michigan the summer he was twelve (with the shotgun he got as his only Christmas present); the Western Union telegram is a copy of one he sent home asking for more money when he was sixteen and on a trip across the country playing with his American Legion baseball team. If I'd done this while I was at home, I'd also have included some of his gorgeous handwriting and maybe one of his favorite quotes in the background.

Not really a good shot of it, because it's way too big to scan, but this is one of my favorite pieces.

2 comments:

Janet said...

You've definitely created a treasure. Your dad is a handsome man. I like the photo of him and the car. This is something I might try. I've been thinking about making collages of some of the women in my family but I might also do one of my dad or my grandpa.

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! I think of the receipt for my mom's piano that I still have (a baby grand: $300 bought when they went out to get her stockings repaired...great story) and all the other cool photos of them as young that could be made into something beautiful like this (I hope).