accordion book, collage on paper with colored pencil, 6 x 6 inches

23 Sandy Gallery in Portland is exhibiting Uncommon Threads: The Handicrafts in Book Arts from September 23 through October 29. The call for entries is open until this Saturday. As the name indicates the show will focus on books incorporating or telling about hand crafting materials and techniques. It is a juried show so I don’t know if my book will make it in yet, but this is my submission. I used parts of a McCall needlework book, and the actual pages and color chart from pattern No. 737 of cross-stitched flowers.

As I am inclined to making things relate, I had to find an interesting story about “threads”. My thoughts wandered from threads to ties then family ties and somehow landed on kidnapping. In searching the archives I came upon a very biased presentation of two Irish women trying to get their orphaned, young relation back from the care of one Mrs. Huntington, Protestant. Also included is some text from an old history book telling about the resentment towards Irish and German Catholic immigrants, who were the brunt of deep prejudice during the mid 1800s.

The very long title of the piece is “No. 737 McCall Color Chart or another attempt to kidnap an IRISH girl suspected of protestantism.”

accordion book, collage on paper with colored pencil, 6 x 6 inches