Sarah E. Cannon and Professor Joseph Ostraff, Visual Art

Genealogy is the second most used resource on the Internet. This is not surprising to me, because heritage largely defines a person, and people are interested in their roots. Within the field of art, there has been a substantial amount of work devoted to the topic of personal heritage, and I believe there is a vast amount yet to be done. Art can have a powerful way of inspiring people, of presenting new ideas, and challenging our perceptions. Rather than approaching my ancestry from a literal narrative approach, I wanted to bring to life remnants that certain individuals in my family had left behind. I used their personal clothing to paint “portraits” of their character and lives. My approach, though highly personal, was able to reach people who immediately connected with their own heritage.

The first major part of my project was collecting stories and assembling my genealogical lines. I then pared down a list of specific individuals whose lives I wanted to honor, selecting one person from each generation back. I mainly turned to personal sources for this segment, gathering anecdotes, photographs and personal histories for each. I also met with Carmen Anderson, who is a church history scholar specializing in authentic costuming. I was able to learn a great deal about the details of period pieces, and from that acquaint myself better with my own heritage based on their personal clothing styles.

After obtaining scrap to work from, I searched for actual clothing pieces from each person’s life. This required some alterations in some cases where the clothing had been long since discarded. Selection of these pieces was not merely based on aesthetic preference, but on careful consideration of the personality and what the clothing implied about them. Each article of clothing had to draw an immediate connection to that person for me. With the clothing I had chosen, I created compositions by folding, hanging, or rumpling the cloth, which added further to the character of each portrait.

A separate, but vital part of each painting was the symbolic pattering I chose to go behind and over the clothing. Aside from my aesthetic interest in these repeated shapes, the pattering also flattened the paintings, while in a sense providing additional depth and meaning. I wanted to add subtle symbols that would further identify these people, but that would not detract from the beauty and simplicity of the clothing by itself.

During the month of November, I hung my final show in the 2nd level hallway of the Harold B. Lee Library. In it was my prepared artist statement, my genealogical chart that I created as a part of the show, and nine paintings along with short biographies which helped to explain each piece. I did a pair of paintings for each person, representing earlier and later life. The finished paintings included my great grandmother Martha Carlsen Oakeson, my grandfather Julian Cassity Lowe, my mother Rebecca Smith Lowe, and myself. The last piece in my show was a more ambiguous, unfinished piece depicting an infant’s outfit, representing my future posterity. For the show’s opening, I especially invited family members who share my posterity and heritage, which was a wonderful experience. The show was open to the public all month, and was in an ideal location, next to the Utah Valley Genealogical Research Center where many who were already interested in the subject were able to consider their heritage in a new light.

I was not able to complete as many paintings as I would have liked. In my original plan, I was going to complete four more paintings, or two additional generations; my great-great-grandfather Benjamin Midgely, and my great-great-great-grandfather Hyrum Smith. I plan to add these paintings to the body someday.

Overall, this was a wonderful experience for me, especially in the process of creating a cohesive and meaningful art show. I was able to learn a great deal from my mentor, along with others, who helped me develop from a student to an artist. I have graduated now, and have a portfolio and invaluable experience that will help me in whatever direction I may take. I plan to continue researching my ancestors’ lives, and to pay tribute to them through my art.