At Home (2024)

Kate Cusick

At Home (2024)
Oil on canvas.
16"x20"

Inspired by:

Mary Ann Emery (Grandmother, 1947-2007)

Untitled (2000)
Film photograph.
4"x6"

Everything my grandmother did was with a caring heart. When thought and talked about after her passing she is remembered for how she cared for her friends, family, strangers, her garden, her patients when she was a nurse, the food she cooked, her books, her home. Her heart was bigger than her. For she is no longer here but the care she showed in her life lives on and continues to inspires those who knew her.

My grandmother documented all of the things she cared about with her small point-and-shoot film camera. She never leaned into the digital world, rather she kept her art analog. I felt drawn to recreate this piece as I explored opportunities to keep my own art analog. Rather than recreating it on an iPad or with Adobe Software I chose to first sketch with pencil on paper and then paint with oils on canvas. It is a piece that reminds me of home, because these purpley-blue hydrangeas were cut from my mother's garden. Home is a place we all care for in different ways, but it is a care that comes deep within our souls and makes you feel like warm golden sunshine.