Last Hurrah

My last working hurrah for the summer boils down to what you see here. I spent a month at Spudnik Press drawing, redrawing, burning, printing, blasting, burning, and printing until I got to the above print.

  

details below the jump 

Here is the print again in *pink* which I can't say "no" to anymore than I can say "no" to a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

 I began this project by photographing boarded-up houses on the west side of town, it was easier than pulling up some ground and drawing them on-site. It was sad for me to find the quantity of beautiful homes that were boarded up all over the neighborhood. I teach in this part of town and have therefore experienced, as a teacher, the effect of mobility due to the housing crisis. Many of my students would be there one day and gone the next without saying good bye.

I wanted this project, for me, to be about simply spending quality time with these abandoned homes. I photographed them, spoke to the neighbors about them in some cases, and created line drawings of them. Perhaps my version of closure? 

I pieced them together in honor of the quilts that represent some of the cultures and communities with which I have had the privilege of working. 

I printed the piece on wood to take away the meaning of the board that is found in conjunction with these houses. Instead the bold, warm, colors and balanced composition speak to something more inviting and anchored. Something I always tried to provide my students; safety and stability.