The Room

A couple of weeks before beginning this piece, I asked my grandpa why he had 7 weed eaters. He laughed and explained: two are broken but he’s keeping them to use the parts, one my grandma uses, one is old and cheap, one is his nicer one, and the last one is the one he gifted my uncle before he passed away and it has landed back in his possession. He said, 'You know we don’t ever get rid of anything.' I did know that… I grew up playing in 'the room' pictured in this print. Even though I spent hours in that cluttered space, I never questioned why they kept so many things.

They keep things for a few different reasons. Sometimes they are functional or could be useful later on… and sometimes they are keeping a memory alive. It's a pretty simple, yet beautiful concept. A precious memory can fade so quickly, but we remedy that with tangible objects.

In 1 Samuel 7:12, Samuel positioned a stone as an act of remembrance of God’s faithfulness. Similarly, objects can remind us not only of sweet earthly memories but also of the faithfulness of the Lord through trials and loss.

Drypoint etching (2022)

13.5” x 11.5”