“Best in Show” at 8x8 Exhibition, Lawrence Arts Center
The House Smelled like Biscuits that Night
Moms potholder, instant film, thread
Friday November 8th was the opening of the 8x8 Juried Exhibition at the Lawrence Arts Center in Kansas, USA. That morning before I got on the road, I received word that my piece had placed Best in Show. Out of 225 artworks mine was awarded the 1st place winner by Juror Vanessa German.
I was shocked, in awe, over the moon, feeling grief, elated, and grateful. More than anything just super fucking grateful. So I went on feeling renewed the whole six and a half hour drive from Little Rock Arkansas to Lawerence Kansas grinning about this good news.
This win came at a time that I really needed a sign that things were going to turn out okay.
Just a few days prior a celebrity felon was elected president.
And then I received this news.
Two things, since 2022- everything that happens, happens without my mom in my life. From things like Trump being elected President to things like having Vanessa German award my work Best in Show. Life altering things that happen no matter where they fall on the spectrum of emotions, all happen without my mom present to (what we would have called) debrief. Therefore I feel joy and sorrow against the unwavering wallpaper of grief.
Absence.
This piece is hallmarked as something I’ve created in this After Death era. It feels important because of its own life after death quality. The life her objects get to live out beyond her, and the power I have as an artist, and her daughter to forge this meaning. I held on to my moms potholder as a functional object until it literally couldn’t be. We used it regardless of the big hole at the bottom until my partner burned her hand pulling something out of the oven with it one night.
Still, I knew I couldn’t just throw it away.
So I used it as a vehicle to process my grief. Starting from the hole, I ripped apart the green quilted fabric from the towel like bottom. I reoriented the fabric so that the two fabrics no longer fit quite perfectly, and in an act of devotion I hand stitched them back together with pink thread.
My piece is raw and real, it is about memory, it can’t help but conjure nostalgia.
When deciding photo pairings in my work, I often make aesthetic decisions that have emotional congruency to one another. This photo felt like waiting outside after school for mom to pick me up. It just felt right for it to live on top of the potholder she would use to bake after school snacks. Pillsbury canned biscuits were her thing.
So I guess this win means so much to me not because of any associated prize or status, but because this means people can still be transported by art and personal narrative. The juror didn’t get a description of my work like you just did. She just simply felt it.
In the age of AI where the Elon Musks and the Donald Trumps rule the world, it can sometimes feel like we’ve lost our humanity. This is my living breathing proof that we have not lost touch with our feeling. Evidence that people can still be transported into a time of remembering.
This piece is deeply personal to me, and yet (or maybe therefore), it has the ability to resonate with others.
There were 225 artworks in this show!!! Here are a few others that I really enjoyed. :- )
Special thanks to Vanessa German for selecting my work to be a part of this exhibition and to award it as Best in Show. Thank you Lawerence Arts Center for putting together the exhibition! And thank you to all family and friends who have shared in my pure joy of this accomplishment. <3
