This is a piece I've just made for my Aunt. It's really meant to be seen in person, but I wanted to put it up here too. For Christmas I told my Aunt I would make her a drawing of anything she wanted; she has a tendency to hang up my pictures on her walls, and I thought she would appreciate one more. I assumed she was going to take a while to think about what she wanted, but no. Immediately she said "St. Louis."
I was a little thrown off at first. That wasn't really what I had in mind. I don't normally draw that. But it's a gift. My Aunt has always been crazy supportive, and not just with my art, when I was younger she would drive out to Philly and help around the house every week. She didn't have to do that, so if she wants a picture of St. Louis then that's what she gets. And I'm going to try to make her something good.
So I started making the thing and I realized looking at pictures of St. Louis why the city was the best subject for her art gift. Last year when I graduated from school in St. Louis, my Aunt came to my graduation and met her birth mother for the first time. She was born in Missouri and while she only lived there in the very beginning of her life it defined something significant about her life story. Recently, especially while making this picture I've realized how important St. Louis is to me.
I may have asked "Why am I in Missouri?" frequently my first year there, but St. Louis is a city with a specific beauty and history that I miss. I could spend a lot of time getting into why it is an important place, but really what's important is that I know it will continue to define how I live and what I make. So thanks Aunt Helen for giving me some time to reflect, and I hope you like your art when I give it to you.
