Stories of the Matriarchs
Unique Cast Bronze, Patina, Reclaimed Rocking Chair Leg
10.75” x 31.75” x 3”, 2023

The figures are five generations of women: granddaughter, daughter, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother. The base they walk on is from a rocking chair that my mother gave to me. Looking at the leg of the rocker I remember holding and singing my children to sleep, watching them drift off and dream. In the rocker I would tell them stories and I was honored to hold in my arms the next generation, that next life and dream with them the many yet untold stories they would create and tell their children.

The Cigar Figures come from a childhood Native American story that my mother told of the “Stick People.” The “Stick People” would run through the night and call your name; if you went with them, you were never heard from again. She never described the figures, and I was always drawn to the idea of what they looked like. The Cigar Figures are my reimagining of that story, now a story of family and my past—a complicated narrative of loss, survival, and resilience. The figures are made from real cigars and found sticks, all cast in bronze. The faces are of the ancestors and family shaped from the idea of a cameo or silhouette painting to capture the faces of the families.

When hung, the light casts a shadow of the figures on the wall. This shadow represents memory for me. Like a shadow, these memories cannot be held, and in the end, we are all only a shadow in history, shadows on this earth.

Available

For inquiries, please contact:

MA Doran Gallery
3509 S. Peoria Avenue | Tulsa, OK 74105 | 918.748.8700