Sherri Wood

Georgia Marie Wood (1917 - 2003)
2004
78" x 62"
Fragments of my Grandmother's housecoats, Sunday dresses, and golf shirts. Made as a gift for my father.

A passage quilt, like a memorial quilt or a mourning quilt, serves as a vehicle for remembering and honoring the life of a loved one who has died. It can be used as a comforting wrap, or hung on the wall. The materials of every day life are transformed into a beautiful functional quilt for sharing stories, memories, sorrow and joy with family members and friends.

Through a process of improvisation, the quilt is made without templates, ruler or a predetermined pattern from the clothing of the deceased and other materials of meaning and memory. The architecture of the clothing is the starting point of the improvisational process. This allows the quilt to retain a sense of the body while offering the quilt maker an opportunity to examine his or her life patterns.

Making a passage quilt is a healing journey through the process of grief and transformation resulting in a new orientation to loss as well as in a unique piece that carries the consoling essence of the beloved.

Michael Christopher Kessler (1982 – 1999)
2004
67" x 67"
Fragments of Michaels’s baby cloths, cloth toys, T-shirts, karate belts, and the jeans and plaid shirt he died in. Made in the studio with Mary Kessler, Michael's mother. Machine and hand pieced, hand quilted.

This quilt is made from the clothing of a boy, Michael Christopher Kessler, who killed himself when he was 17

His mother, Mary, brought to my studio boxes of clothes, cloth toys and baby quilts from his infancy, childhood, and teenage years. She unwrapped karate belts, booted jumpers, stuffed dinosaurs, small t-shirts with zoo animals and monster trucks. . .

We cried together when she uncovered and touched the pair of blue jeans and the short sleeved, plaid shirt he chose to die in.

Georgia Marie Wood (1917 - 2003)
2004
78" x 62"

Michael Christopher Kessler (1982 – 1999)
2004
67" x 67"