The Music is Forever
I created this piece in memory of my dad and his music. He was a talented musician & composer, learning the piano as a young child (he had no choice, his mother insisted!) , then moving on to the French horn in his teens. During World War II He played French horn in the army orchestra and after the war he joined the Kansas City philharmonic. My parents lasted one season- they decided the winters were far to cold and headed back to their native California. My dad spent a few years working at the old Lookout mountain studio in Hollywood, still playing “gigs”on a regular basis. In 1954 my mother announced life as they knew it was about to change, I was on the way. My dad decided since he was to be a father he better get steady employment- and he landed a job as an assistant sound director at Disney studios. He went on to be the music scoring stage mixer, retiring from Disney after working there for 25years. Throughout my childhood our house was filled with music-everything from opera to the Bealtles – the Disney “fire house five jazz band”, and of course his beloved French horn. When I was about 12 years old, my parents came back from vacationing in Glasgow, Scotland, the home of my fraternal great grandfather. The bagpipes were immediately ordered and when they arrived, the lessons began. My dad found a teacher and practiced religiously, marching up and down our front yard- to the distress of all the neighbors (except the Scottish couple across the street.)
His love affair with the bagpipes, French horn and everything musical lasted throughout his life. After he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, music was his constant companion & comfort. After he died, I inherited all of his instruments, & stacks and stacks of sheet music & music books, dating from his childhood to the present, a span of more than 65years. The memories he left me with are wonderful – my musical palette is diverse. I can happily listen to classical, jazz, rock, blues, world, country, even some rap & hip hop-the gift of music my father gave me is forever.
Materials and techniques
I wanted to use my Dad’s sheet music for his “skeleton”, so to give it some strength, I backed the paper with muslin using a mixture of white glue & water. I appliquéd him onto one of my parents vintage damask tablecloths, which I hand painted with fabric paints and hand quilted. I used the lace off of my grandmothers pillowcases, which I dyed my dad’s favorite color, blue. I used a Victorian Scottish paisley for the binding, and embellished with antique lace flowers that I handpainted, cut from an old collar (also my grandmothers.) I used a bone heart shaped button to hang the vintage crystal.
I embellished the piece with embroidery and beading- all the work is done by hand.
16 ½” x 25” AVAILABLE
