In April 2019 I was lucky enough to be awarded a residency with Goodwill Industries of Kentucky. From their website:
The Art of Goodwill is a unique opportunity that taps into the creativity of selected Kentucky artists. The program gives these talented artists access to our 66 stores to gather materials they repurpose to create unique works of art. The artifacts are then displayed at an auction event at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville.
When I began searching through the local Goodwill’s for materials to repurpose I stumbled across a book published in 1938 called The American Red Cross: Swimming and Diving. My copy looked a bit like this one only mine was in much rougher shape. When I flipped through the book I was struck by the beauty of the photos of the swimmers:
These grainy halftone black and white photos are something most people would likely dismiss casually without a thought. I could not stop looking at them, however. I bought the book as well as fabric and batting from the Goodwill store and came home to begin my process of creating the pieces for my residency. I wanted to breathe life and beauty into the models in the photos.
I was to create two pieces for my residency. However I ended up creating three:
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