My diptychs
“Enjoy life. Enjoy your family. And always do your best.”
— Virginia Seitz Dixon, mother of the artist
8/22/20 — The most recent open call by the Laurie + Doug Kanyer Art Collection had me musing on the subject of memory. I thought back to last year. While caring for my mother with dementia, I made dozens of thumbnail studies smaller than 2-inches square. As I write this, she now resides at an excellent facility. With the current lockdown, no visitation is allowed. Looking back over all those spontaneous exercises provides a connection to the “smallest of things,” a key aspect of my collage practice. More significantly, it reminds me of her — one of the “greatest of things” during my life. From her I learned the commitment to always do the best I could, if something was worth doing in the first place. In her honor, I made a daily collage diptych during the month of July, 2020, with each one exploring a random aspect of “forgetfulness.”
This series was created as part of the #findingjoyinthesmallestofthings open call initiative by the Kanyer Art Collection, in association with Zach Collins. Click on a thumbnail image to preview each individual collage diptych and enlargements of each component miniature.