It’s nice to be with you!
The title of this installation comes from a note my husband left me after our second date: It’s nice to be with you!
Thirty-five years later, he died unexpectedly. For years afterward, his side of our closet remained untouched.
Eventually, I began transforming his clothing into large, sculpted paper-pulp paintings. Learning the process took me to a workshop with Andrea Peterson at Ox-Bow School of Art in Michigan and subsequently to a papermaker at Stanford. The work was physically demanding, involving the breaking down and re-forming of familiar materials.
His pants, jeans, white shirts, and plaid button-downs were shredded and processed into pulp. The fibers and colors of his clothing became my painting materials, forming sculpted works approximately four by six feet.
The installation also included a chair upholstered with his clothing, its frame dating from the year of his birth.
Completed four years after his death, It’s Nice to Be With You! explores how everyday objects hold the presence, memory, and history of those who have lived with them.
