Every piece I create tells a story from a folklore based on my childhood in west Michigan. A folklore stitched together in clay and fiber from traditional Michigan folk stories, family tales, and my own spirituality.
My Grandparents were storytellers and upon hearing their stories from their own lives my imagination would run wild. I would spend hours playing in the forests imagining the woman who was buried in the tree my Grandmother told me of or the logs my Grandfather felled from ancient trees. In their home I would spend afternoons alone pouring over the Victorian photo albums of my family, pictures of pioneer cabins, farms, and funerals. I still gather much of my imagery inspiration from Victorian dress and mourning customs like those I first saw in those albums. The wildlife that I would interact with in the forests around my home also became a part of my story. From the crow calls over empty fields to the wide eyed deer silently walking past me, they all live within my lore. The animals and stories all remain within the lands of my childhood. The old family farm, a miniature log cabin, the forests I roamed, and other magical locations set the backdrop for my work. All haunted spaces, sacred in the solace and memories they contain.
My Grandparents have all passed on, my family has scattered, and all the spaces we once existed in have faded away. My folklore is all that is left. Through the tactileness of clay and fibers, I seek to depict these beautifully strange images from my tales. Imparting on viewers the sense of what binds us to a place and the conjuring from a story told.
TJ Schwartz 