This project began in 2011 by photographing boarded-up houses on the west side of town, it was easier than pulling up some ground and drawing them on-site. I was always interested in the beautiful homes that were boarded up throughout the neighborhood. I taught in this part of town and had therefore experienced, as a teacher, the effect of mobility on the families and greater community. Many of my students would be there one day and gone the next without saying goodbye.

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I wanted this project, for me, to be about simply spending quality time with these abandoned homes. I photographed them, spoke to the neighbors about them in some cases, and created line drawings of them. Perhaps my version of closure? 

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I pieced them together as a nod to the quilts we'd studied in my classroom. In the end I printed the piece on wood to take away the meaning of the boards found in conjunction with these houses. Instead the bold, warm colors and balanced composition speak to something more inviting and anchored. 

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Over the years I have continued to create these abstracted neighborhoods when I want to honor the architecture of a community. Sometimes I also just find drawing the straight lines and details of urban homes therapeutic. 

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