rcoffmanart: 112 E Palmetto Ave

112 E Palmetto Ave

Off white cotton fabric, blue embroidery thread, clay

3" x 2" x 2"

112 E Palmetto Ave reflects my memories of the house my grandma lived in when I was young. I wanted to honor my grandma's memory with this piece and recreate the sensorial associations I have with her home. The title of this piece is the street address of her house, where I spent nearly every weekend for my entire childhood. The shape of the pouch was inspired by my grandma's beaded cigarette cases, which I filled with heavy little clay spheres instead of cigarettes to represent the weight of her dependence on nicotine. I knew I wanted to include sewing because of the time I spent in my grandma's craft room full of fabric scraps, lace trims, and a sewing machine. I embroidered the pouch because of the many embroidery projects she made for me as she sat in her living room watching a game show on television and burning a cigarette. The repeating patterns on the bag and on the spheres symbolize the predictable flow of weekends I spent at her house. The blue thread and white fabric were inspired by the blue and white plates she had in her kitchen. Finally, the nine spheres represent each decade of her life, and the terracotta they resemble is for the countless clay pots of bromeliads on her back porch.