Bedside Table
2011. Found objects covered in sewn glass beads, wood table. 64”x 20”x20”.
Images proffered by artists are often inspired by angst-ridden times in a challenging world. I too have mined this territory for images and ideas that have informed my work.
Bedside Table is a different kind of piece. It is a work that was inspired by my father, Orville Chatt. His role as parent was complicated for reasons I do not need to talk about here. He faced challenges that might have left him bitter, mean or parsimonious. He was instead, a constant presence. He was supportive, kind and funny. My home was a haven. It was a place where I knew what to expect and I knew the people who shared it could be depended on.
When it came time to empty my childhood home, I became sentimental about the most unlikely items. My siblings and I were sorting through personal belongings and separating things into stacks, things that someone might want, things to go to charity, or things to throw away. I opened my father’s bedside table and looked at its contents. I knew there was no rational reason to save the objects found there. As I approached the garbage can, drawer in hand, I paused. I had never lived in a world where this place did not exist and it was suddenly unthinkable to see this collection of personal items cast into the waiting heap. I returned the drawer, as he left it, to the table. I now have the table and it’s contents in my home. It is as he left it. His table and its constancy has become a reminder of a man who gave me the gift of a stable and supportive upbringing and who loved his family. Bedside Table is a collection of fatherly things that remind me of my Dad. This piece is for him.
Seattle Channel Art Zone with Nancy Guppy. October 28, 2011.
"At Large, Leaving the Crow's Nest." City Arts, February 9, 2012.
"BAM Biennial: High Fiber Diet," Bellevue Arts Museum. October 2012 - February 24, 2013.
"FUSION [A New Century of Glass]," Oklahoma City Museum of Art. June 14 - September 17, 2012.
"A Final Peek Inside Ballard's Crazy Tricycle Church." Ballard KOMO. February 21, 2012.