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| Working on "Ode to Jo" during the opening. Johanne Renbeck's work "Suddenly the Moon"is on the left | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Ode to Jo
After my
dear friend died I was stymied. What
kind of work to do? Where to go with
these feelings of loss? I thought to
begin a work and put it all into it. I
began by searching for the right paper.
I found a drawing I had done some time ago and began working with
it. As I wrote my thoughts and memories
on the paper I realized the drawing looked like Jo- a tall, slender, elegant
woman. It all fit. I kept writing my thoughts and with each
sentence felt a little bit of an ease as some feelings came out.
I wrote
about the things Jo had taught me, things I had shared with her. I wrote about our conversations, things we
discovered together, our similarities and differences. We shared so many things – mainly our passion
for our work. We visited each others
studios often and critiqued work, writings, helped to install exhibits. So many more things…
On this
work I continued - I drew and stitched and wrote. Then the crocheting began. Jo had taught me how to crochet when she saw
me struggling with knitting a six foot tall form. Her idea had made my entire project easier
and smoother. So, of course, I would
crochet on this piece in memory of her.
As I work connecting the string to itself with simple stitches, I
continue to connect myself to the part of her that lives inside me and to the idea of 'image and word' she loved so much.
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