What Floats My Boat

Themes:  Community Building . Conversation . Vulnerability

"What Floats My Boat" 48x24, diptych, acrylic and paper sails on birch panel

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What give you hope, now, in these times?

​In response to the pervasive nature of alienation and fatigue, especially post pandemic, I asked the question, “What gives hope, now, in these times?”  I invited anyone I could to share their thoughts on small, torn paper.  Over the months these paper sails found their way back to me: arriving in envelopes from across Canada, shyly handed to me in the grocery store, or left anonymously in my studio mailbox.  I was moved by their simple candor.  Far more arrived than I expected or could use, but every contribution is represented here either collaged on or by directly scribing the words into the liminal space between the forms.  These words – mostly from strangers – were impactful.  It wasn’t the specifics of what gave hope, but the gathered sense of it, like a pace setter along a course that is largely unknown. 

Because I had so many extra little paper sails, and they all felt so precious, I made a few more floating boats with sails full of hope.