This Will Not Keep You Warm
This Will Not Keep You Warm is a meditation on motherhood and
homemaking. The book is made up of intaglio and digital images
printed on new cotton cloth. Unlike Henrietta Lambie’s quilt, which
uses her and her family’s clothing, not a single piece of mine, or
anybody else’s, clothing was used in the production of the book. The
work is pieced together and quilted by machine. The stitches that
Mrs. Lambie and her friends did by hand have been photographed and
digitally printed. I had a desire to think about Mrs. Lambie and have
compassion for her loss, but also to keep that at bay. Fretful worries
about my own child and her mortality were heightened. Magical
thinking and obsessive thoughts abounded while I was working on this
book.
Along with being a mourning quilt, Lambie’s crazy quilt uses imagery
typical of the time it was made: Japanese-inspired fans and vases,
insects, and Kate Greenaway illustrations appear throughout. Painted
and embroidered flowers, an American flag, a horseshoe, and a Jacob’s
Ladder all come together to tell a story about who the Lambie family
was and how their home was kept. The imagery chosen for this book
all comes from the Lambie’s quilt — except for the wooden floors. I
use wooden floors in my regular studio vernacular and in the book as a
grounding element.