It began with the two girls
I first wrote some posts about this work just about one year ago. It was near the beginning of staying at home a lot during the early days of Covid and I decided to tackle a bigger-than-normal project.
“What Were We Supposed to Be” is a journey quilt, placing two little girls in an environment rich with images and symbols.
Since then, two nice things have occurred. First, this work will be included in a book written by Sandra Sider, “Quarantine Quilts; Creativity in a Time of Chaos.” It will be published by Shiffer Publishing this summer. I’m pleased because this piece is very wide, and Sandra told me it printed as a two-page spread and looks great. I can’t wait to see it.
Even nicer, a patron has purchased this work. It is on a UPS truck someplace between here and California right now. All of this has caused me to take a look at it again, and remember some of what went into creating it.
I created What Were We Supposed to Be in four panels
It began with the two girls. It’s their story. They are in an environment that’s rich with symbols and possibilities. Yet it is not well organized. There are a lot of parts. And they must figure out the parts and their meaning.
Windows and doors fill the environment. These invite the viewer to look through. But what’s inside is not clearly defined. The windows and doors are also skewed, providing a feeling that one has fallen through the looking glass. Tangles of vines are visible in the background. This is a confusing place.
There are strong architectural elements suggesting history and tradition. Perhaps this is part of a large church structure. Perhaps it is a school. Or a fort. It is big and makes its presence felt. It casts shadows. Yet, it is also appealing and inviting.
Around and through these elements are trees and leaves – signs of growth and nourishment. Parts of the environment are lush and verdant. There are also bees and pieces of a beehive. Lots of activity and work going on.
The two girls sit like dolls. They are posed on a stoop in front of a door, as in a family photo. Mimicking the shapes of the arches in the historical structure, they are beneath an arch, as figures in a shrine.
Some of the emotions in this work are drawn from my own particular childhood. I often felt unreal. My sister and I were in an environment that was frequently overwhelming. Our best strategy was to be good, or to be invisible.
Beyond our particular circumstances, I believe this emotional state was true of many girls growing up in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. We absorbed traditional expectations for girls from teen magazines and sitcom TV shows. Nobody gave us high expectations or talked about the large issues of life, morality, or meaning. Our parents worked very hard and, each weighed down by their own unspoken emotional baggage, tried to forge what they understood to be the ideal little family. They did what they knew how to do and intended for it to define a good life.
I included some text about expectations for women in the 1950’s in the collage
Now I have a heart for girls and their journeys. I want them to be encouraged. I want them to like themselves. I want them to see their own possibilities as limitless. I volunteer in a first grade class. Working one-on-one or in small reading groups I love the opportunity to offer encouragements to growing kids. I never know when the one word I speak is the one word a child needs to hear to figure out her own place and her own possibilities in the reality in which she is growing.
A lot of my quilts are storytelling quilts that focus on the journey of a young girl. If you’d like to see more, please visit bobbibaughstudio.com and browse through the “Journeys and Stories” Gallery: HERE
Thank you for reading.
I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
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