Past Projects
Stamped in the Waves
Part I of a two-part memorial series, this shadow box was created from a WWII Navy duffle bag a grandson kept from his grandfather’s service. The sea is built in layered waves, carrying the bag’s original stamped name and number—once a simple identifier, now a quiet signature that refuses to fade. Overhead, the sky is marked with two constellations: Gemini for his passing and Taurus for his beginning, set like coordinates for a life remembered. The full moon is formed from leather taken from the bag, weathered and crumbling with time, preserved here so even what’s fragile can remain. And the ship—stitched with thread pulled from the duffle bag itself—takes its shape from the warship he served on, anchoring the piece to the vessel that once carried him.
Materials:
WWII Navy duffle bag textiles, thread, and leather; original stamped name/number; constellation design (Gemini & Taurus); warship photo reference; hand-cut layered fabric; stitched and mixed media.
Where the Wind Carries Us
Part II of a memorial series, the piece was created from the same WWII Navy duffle bag that once traveled with a man through service and across oceans. The fabric, worn by time and history, now carries a different journey – one of family, memory, and the lives that followed his own.
Thread drawn from the duffle bag forms the central structure (Stars), a guiding presence across time. The preserved portrait holds him in identity, ensuring he remains not just remembered, but seen.
Surrounding this structure are dandelions — a symbol often associated with children of the military families. Resilient and carried by the wind, they represent lives shaped by service, sacrifice, and movement. Here, they speak first to this daughter, who grew up in the shadow of a father at sea, and then to her son — the grandson who preserved this bag and carried his grandfather’s story forward.
This piece honors not only the man who served, but the generations shaped by his journey — a daughter who lived the quiet strength of a military child, and the grandson who chose to remember. Like dandelion seeds, love and history travel beyond what we can hold, settling gently into the lives that follow.
Materials:
WWII Navy duffle bag textiles and thread: preserved photograph; symbolic dandelion elements; mixed media.
Where Work Becomes Wildflowers
This piece began with a father’s Nomex uniform—the one he wore so often it seemed to remember him back. From the reflective stripes, I shaped safety-yellow blooms: brightness once meant to protect him, now turned into petals meant to keep him close. The centers come from his zipper—small, familiar pieces that opened and closed with every shift, saved like a quiet refrain. At the center, I left a quiet space for his photograph, so his presence can live inside the flowers. The deep blue flowers are cut from the body of the uniform itself, carrying the heart of what he wore into what his daughter can hold. And the burlap brings in a country softness—earthy and warm—an echo of the life he loved and the Kentucky roots that ran through his family. What once did the work of safety becomes, here, a bouquet of remembrance—work-worn, re-made, still shining.
Materials:
Repurposed Nomex uniform fabric, reflective stripe material, zipper components, burlap, hand-formed textile florals, mixed media assembly.