mother’s buttons

Photo courtesy Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramics, South Korea.

2020/21

My Mother’s Button Collection

"I remember sitting on the floor organizing my mother's button collection while she sewed; I am sure she did this to keep me occupied”.

This work emphasizes both the power and fragility of memory. I sew buttons from my mother’s button collection onto fragile thin-walled paper-clay forms.

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“no longer a button, but a thought of a button.”

  • “Her aged and thin-skinned hands hold the familiar button and she remembers an outfit she once wore. “

    This wall Installation emphasizes both the power and fragility of memory, and that a small object like a button unlocks and creates pathways to forgotten times and lines of exploration.

    I cared for my mother in her later stages of life and dealt with her ongoing dementia- one that holds incredible clarity at times, and then slips away altogether. It is a piece that captures time, loss, memories, and celebrations that are all contained within the small, collected object.

  • “Her aged and thin-skinned hands …”

    I use paper clay because of its ability to create very thin and fragile forms.

    The positive forms are initially made in 3D software (Rhino) and then 3D printed. I make moulds from these using vacuum forming creating a negative that I layer thin amounts of paper clay into them. Once fired, I glaze them in the colour realm of white and cream, gloss and matte, so they are part of the white wall: appearing and disappearing much like our memories do.

    During Covid, I unearthed my mother’s button collection and sewed them on to the delicate clay. They belong together.

    The holes and gaps in the clay forms are like lapsed memories and this loss is honoured with gold lustre.

    These forms are pinned delicately and float above their cast shadows. The viewer immerses themselves into the fragile tones of memory, childhood, domesticity, and the time spent collecting and revisiting a time passed.

    Dimensions: Each form varies from small fragments (3cm X 3cm X3cm) to larger shapes (17cm X 14cm X 8cm).

    The overall dimension of the wall installation is 8’ X 8’

    Materials: Paper clay, gold lustre, buttons, thread, pins.

  • The Korean International Ceramics Biennale. Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, South Korea 2021/22

  • Wonderment and Materiality • The Discarded • The Sewing Box • Phase Transition •

  • Blog: Craft Council of BC. “An Exhibition from afar”. On exhibiting in The Korean International Ceramics Biennale during the Pandemic.