where i come from

These are the hands of many of the women whom I belong to. The oldest one belonging to my Great Aunt Maxine. I am named for my great aunt and Great she was.
An artist, my earliest memories are of her coming to my grandmothers house with her projector and closing the curtains in the living room to show us some of her latest work.
She is in her late nineties now. When this photo was taken she couldn't quite place me. Her daughter Brenda is directly to the right of her. She is the one who made this beautiful jewelery. Of course Aunt Maxine had no problem remembering who she was. Next to Brenda is my mother, then me, (I took the photo). My Auntie Beth is next to me and my Auntie Barb is on the opposite side of Aunt Maxine. This was the part that confused Aunt Mackie, you see, she new her brother Don had three girls (mom, Beth, Barb). But she couldn't get past the part where I fit in, I was not one of Don's children, but I was one of his grandchildren.
Shortly after this visit, my Aunt Brenda came to NS with a small package of things for me. I spent hours going through a Wolfville shopping bag filled with correspondence, sketches, notes, books and many other exciting things that belonged to my Aunt Maxine. I didn't know until the moment I received this bag of goodies that my Aunt had done a correspondence Design course. What a treat for me to not only share my name with this amazing woman, but to also share some of our academics.
The books I was provided with are filled with design ideas from the 30's and 40's. What an opportunity for me to look back and perhaps borrow some of these amazing ideas and be able to share them with the future!