Elegy for Ellen, 1996
etchings on fabric, gold leaf on wooden ironing boards,
60 x 100 x 19"

The installation Elegy for Ellen is a work created in loving memory of my grandmother Ellen A. Kames who died in December 1994. She possessed a passion for her family and for ironing. Ironing was a private ritual for her. She particularly loved to iron table cloths. I image Ellen standing at the ironing board recalling each conversation that took place at the Christmas, Easter or birthday dinner. Perhaps as she pressed and folded the cloth she paused and reflected about each family member present at that banquet. I think of her holding the concerns and hopes of each family member close to her heart as she worked out the wrinkles.

In Elegy for Ellen, the ironing boards are gilded to signal the holiness of the object. They are human scale and are folded in repose to suggest Ellen's death. The etchings that hang in front are printed on batiste fabric, a material traditionally used for wedding and baptismal gowns. Ellen, like most women of her generation tilled a flower garden and was a faithful letter writer. The images printed on the fabric recall these typical daily rites. I chose gladiolas as they are often used in funeral arrangements. The hanging prints can be seen as a curtain or as palls, the cloth draped over a coffin at the funeral liturgy.