(a collection of thoughts….)
My father called me a packrat and a daydreamer. I preferred to think of myself as a collector and observer.
Growing up on the ranch, I spent my summers with my father in the hayfields. We didn’t use horses or horse drawn equipment, but my father would tell stories of the days when horses were used to put up hay in our fields, and how it took three teams of horses the entire summer to do what we could do in a week.
These pieces are a collection of my collections…my findings, my memories and my daydreams.
I’d like to thank my father for his stories and teachings. When we would encounter a breakdown, he would talk to me about timing and being in tune with the machine. I would listen, only half way because my fingers were busy picking up a broken guard or section from the mower that he deemed unusable. Many a nut and bolt would end up in my pocket to be put in the collection box under my bed.
I’d like to thank my grandfather for memories of his woodshop, and for an old chest of drawers full of letters, postcards, watches, leather repair pieces…. The chest was left untouched and moved to his woodshop after he passed away.
I’d like to thank my grandmother for her collection of fabrics and papers, as well as her gentleness and sensitivity that helped to soften the hardness of ranch living.
I’d like to thank my sister, my partner in adventure seeking. Our adventures amongst the retired horse drawn equipment and old tool sheds of my grandfather uncovered many treasures…sometimes small enough to pocket and fit in my collection box, others left to be gathered at a later stage in my life.
I’d like to thank my mother, for allowing me my collections and daydreams without consequence.
And lastly I’d like to thank my husband, for his encouragement and critique; For understanding me and my need to make art. Without him, these collections would still be in boxes.
-Meagan Kieffer
