O N W O O D — No One's Looking. This is one of my favorite period portraits by my grandmother. Taken ca 1921, rather than anyone "smiling for the camera," no one is looking at the photographer at all. You can see crushed oyster shells at their feet-they were right on the edge of the harbor in Stony Creek, CT, on the lawn of the Indian Point House, a long-ago hotel on the Connecticut shoreline. The little girl is my mother, and the couple are good friends of my grandmother. This piece is 31 x 15 inches on 2 joined antique boards, and won an award at a state juried show a few years ago.
What I try to bring to all of my work, with my paint and paper treatments, is the sense of memory. Memories come and go; some are strong, some are weak; some are vividly in color and stay that way, and others fade away to a patina of warmth; some are ruined with age, some hang on for dear life and make it through the other side. My pieces tell a story, but that story can be the viewers memories that are jogged by my work. This little girl could be any little girl, the sense of period and time belong to us all.
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