Posthumous Collaboration, Part 1

2024 was a tough year filled with loss…“My Unwelcome Journey of Grief”. Today marks one year since she’s been gone…my “Twigster”…my aunt/sister/friend. As a way to heal after her sudden death, I turned to some familiar sources to help with the heart-stabbing pain I felt each day I thought of her…family, friends, an amazing therapist, and collage (“angry collage”).

In November 2024 during KEXP’s “Music Heals: Grief” day of special programming, my healing journey found its way to my art. I can’t remember what was said on the radio, what song came on, but jewelry sketches poured out onto paper along with my tears. Inspired by Twigster’s photo albums filled with snapshots of her travels in the 1960s-70s, I imagined using bits of the landscape photos – bits made to look like gemstones and crystals – covered with resin and paired with a gemstone point and twig connector.

Recently I came across an article in Psychology Today by Ken Druck PhD, “The Wholeness that Emerges from Brokenness” (https://tinyurl.com/97eypxm3). Dr. Druck offers a guide to healing, one of them being “Embody Some Part of Their Essence” by integrating aspects of the deceased into our life. I chose Twigster’s art of capturing the natural beauty of the landscapes she encountered as a college student. I’m honored that her art is now a part of my art. I understand now that my “unwelcome journey” is a gift of strength and compassion.

She’s with me daily – I see her in the trees and in every branch and every little twig on the sidewalk – my Twigster.