THE SEWING BOX
a craft-based installation
Installed in the Window Gallery, Craft Council of BC November 18 2021-January 10, 2022.
This work is about a sewing box and the collection I found inside. I discovered the box in a vintage store on a back shelf that was full of old tin boxes. It still contained its spools of thread, mismatched buttons, buckles, smaller boxes of pins, wool samples, and even rusty old nails. The owner had wrapped the saved ends of thread on to empty wooden spools, sometimes multiple colours on to one; the assorted buttons were organized in small envelopes or boxes by colour, shape, and size.
I knew I had to respond and preserve the box's legacy, open it up, un-do the collection, and honour it. This craft-based installation is about a neglected box that still holds the perseverance of its owner, one who kept a semblance of domestic order through frugal saving; it comments on how many of us are collectors and savers.
