1. Given
Given focuses on rich heritage deeply routed in the highlands that transcends location. The story follows a family in their multi-generational migration to the “New World”. The collection is tailored to exude strength and stability through times of hardship. The Poppy flower is the main motif used to honor and bestow reverence on those who we remember the most.
2. QUI(L)T
QUI(L)T focuses on the juxtapostion of temperance and indulgence. The women of the temperence movement often used quilts to represent their messages of abstainence from alcohol, the act of “QUITting”. For a fair few, alcohol becomes the solution to their problems in life and is easy to indulge; QUI(L)T uses rich color and texture to represent a struggle between this indulgence that can overtake someone’s life.
3. OZ
Oz focuses on paths that are forged from life experiences: right and wrong decisions. Storytelling is typically easiest to do using symbols through colors, shapes, animals, fantasy, etc; Oz uses similar techniques such as the juxtaposition of color, shape and texture to reimagine a life defining journey.
4. Apparitions in Appalachia
Apparitions in Appalachia focuses on life marked by uncertainty. While life in the rural mountains of West Virginia appears to be more simple than that of the bustling 20th century, the lose of a partner is everlasting. This collection is based around the widowship of Myrtle Donahue, whose husband, Clemon, was a Pure Oil worker until his untimely demise by a train decapitation in 1931. Myrtle was left to raise her five children before she had even reached the age of 36. With the fading oil industry, the great beauty that is the Appalachian wilderness has prevailed. The collection features flora and fauna of Kanawha county, WV contrasted by the faded technology of the 1920’s and 30’s, industrial and household appliances, in the form of print and embellishment.