Our ideas began with a dream about a boat. As we tended the dream boat, it grew large enough to hold the world’s memories and stories - a metaphoric vessel for life’s journey, cradle to grave with all its attending riches. Throughout history, the boat – raft, skiff, coracle, long boat, curragh, dingy, steamboat, canoe, fishing boat, caique, frigate – has been a literal means of survival, ceremony, escape, travel, burial and pleasure. Our hope for the viewer is that the atmosphere, music, boat, images and writing will stimulate personal memories, stories and connections with treasured objects. Embodied in such objects as heirlooms, or family photographs are stories – sometimes poetic, sometimes elusive, and at other times forceful and potent.

Memories and stories are the unifying force of families, cultures, and the world.

The Books: The process of telling our (universal) stories required the making of four books.
One is a Memory book of memories, poetry and images. It sits on a table.
One became the Reliquary - a reminder of our ancestors and mortality.
Two were deconstructed.
Of those, one became the Beeswax wall - blank pages dripped with beeswax, pinned to a 30 x 8 wall - ah, the fragrance!
The other became the wall of Pages a 40 x 8 wall of images, memories, and writing collaged on the pages, then attached to the wall.

The Fictitious Sisters
2004

Gay Schy, Lynn Powers, Rosemary Jellison, and Lynn Mauser-Bain