Performance at the Akin Museum and Library

Working on "Ode to Jo" during the opening. Johanne Renbeck's work  "Suddenly the Moon"is on the left

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.