California Mama Makers, 70's Style

I love this family snapshot of my mom, Vicki, @ left knitting (w/ me in utero!) , and my Grandma Georgie as it’s a reminder that I’m part of a rich line of “mama makers”. Going further back, my Grandma Georgie’s mother, Mattie Haynes, was a talented seamstress among other skills. Thinking back on this lineage makes me feel grounded in my creative pursuit. There’s a DNA imprint woven through the generations. Long before the visibility of social media and hashtags like makersgonnamake, makermonday, etc, my mom and grandma pursued craft in their day-to-day lives, for the simple joy of it. They also ran their own creative businesses (mom, a weaving studio and interior design business; grandma, a high-end slipcover & home textiles company called Finlay’s in West Hollywood, California), but that’s for another post.

For now I’m treasuring this glimpse at a moment in time 50 years ago (December 1970 to December 2020) captured by my dad ~ a month before I was born. On the wall hangs a square embroidery on linen, “framed wall art” designed and stitched by my mom. She used cotton-silk-wool blend yarns and made French knots and added beads to the tree details. I’m lucky to have grown up in a family where creativity was woven into daily life, and believe that the aesthetics that surrounded me as a child helped me imagine and pursue fine art photography.

Thanks for taking the time to read a little bit about this keepsake photo and what it means to me. Oh, the setting is at my parent’s small house that they rented in West Hollywood. It was so small, in fact, they nicknamed it “The Vegetable Stand”.

Happy holidays,

Laura