Departing Ship

In addition to "Forget Me Not," I made a second piece about my father titled, "Departing Ship." This piece is based on a button from my dad's Navy pea coat and the popular image for Victorian mourning jewelry of a departing ship. When I was working on ideas for a piece about my father, I made a list of objects I associate with him that have some sort of personal significance to me: storage boxes he made for our camping supplies, his chef hats, his perfectly white Reebok sneakers. I asked my mom about all of the things on my list and nothing is left, except for one of the original buttons from his Navy pea coat. I wore this coat in college and somehow still have a button, even though the coat is long gone. At first I was very disappointed that nothing was left, but then I realized it was actually a good thing and truly appropriate given my father's illness. So I worked with the single button, toying with the idea of casting it, but then decided to really play up trying to replace it or recreate it by finding buttons that were almost the same. I made 68 pins for this arrangement/installation, my father's age now. Over time as pins are purchased, this number will diminish or disappear much like his memory, and eventually his life.

Normally, I would not bring up selling my work in a post like this, but the purchase of these pins is something I really want because it is the continuation of the piece. I want them to disappear… it adds to the meaning. If you are interested in having one for yourself, send me an email (atavern@gmail.com). They are $50 each.

More images on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.