Reliquary for My Father

In January of 2017, the day before my 50th birthday, my Father passed away. It was the beginning of a year of intense loss and grief as my Mother followed in October, my dog in November and my cat in December.

My Parents were very creative people which was passed down to all of their 5 children in one way or another. Dad was an industrial arts teacher and a wood worker for over 3 decades. Mid-career, he took up farrier work as a side business. My life has been full of materials, tools and projects, both practical and creative.

In the wake of their deaths, I took part in disassembling their 60 years of life together, gathering small items from their home, items that had personal meaning to me. As I sat with these items, I knew I did not want to simply keep them in boxes, instead dreaming up ways to display them. This would require skills I did not have.

This prompted me to return to my sculpture background and enrollment in classes at Baltimore Jewelry Center where I fell in love with metalsmithing.

Made from items gathered from my Father’s desk.

One of his watches
A portion of his suspenders
Horseshoe nails from his years as a farrier
Part of his folding ruler which had a place in his back pocket for a good portion of my youth
Papers with his writing (a list of jokes he remembered and the working of a Jumble Puzzle)
A copper sheet embossed with an oak leaf (he loved fall and Oak leaves are significant to our childhood vacations
A lock of his hair, gathered from his last haircut which I gave him about a month before his death