Project Description

Part of the Message in a Bottle series, which explores the themes of connection, isolation and healing as inspired by 100 letters written in 1918-1919 by a grandfather I never met. (see below)

20″ x 20″

Mixed media on wood panel, incorporating acrylic, graphite, and letters and words from a grandfather written to his wife (my grandmother)   during WWI.  In letter after letter, he implored her to write more. And then I stumbled across this line, “your letter would take out of me the blue.”

I was struck by the poetry and vulnerability of this line. As a soldier, his hunger for connection was poignant, but also a reminder that the sense of isolation and absence of connection can befalls us at any time, such as during a pandemic or under the stresses of everyday life.

I try to convey the blue of longing as well as the sunny joy derived from dreaming of the possibilities for reconnection or redemption.

$695