My grandma was amazing and I can't believe that she died 20 years ago, this month. About ten years before she died, I was able to get this wonderful photo of her with a leopard bag that I made. She was born right at the height of flu pandemic of 1918. She was a small baby and her mother was told to lay her down near the oven but she probably won't make it.
She did make it and my depression-era grandma is the inspiration for the things I make. I can hear her now saying "waste not, want not". She was the first person to appreciate and understand why I was making things from recycled fabrics, long before recycling was "in". Some of you know, that in 1993 I was studying at UC Berkeley, on the path to becoming an academic. Those goals were interrupted as I became completely disabled by bi-polar illness. Quite a few years later, when my health improved, I put a little table full of things I made out at Eastern Market. That was 1996. That was my pivot.
Pivot has become a popular word in the last couple months as we are all trying to adjust and rethink things. range of emotion is pivoting, as well. My website has become my only place of business as Torpedo Factory is closed and shows are being canceled. I will be in touch with all of you more often, both showing you the new things I am making and telling stories about the meaning behind my work. Your support of my work through this pandemic will be more important than ever. My part of the part is to provide you unusually beautiful and functional objects to choose from and I will! Thank you, jenae
Do you remember things that your grandma told you that stuck in your head? Please post here on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rangeofemotion/