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We Never Surrender Acrylic, collage, thread on panel Size of Piece: 24 x 24 Framed Size: 25 x 25 These portraits are the strong women in my life who walked before and beside me for a lifetime. I was inspired by a host of old photographs on in crumbling black photo albums that have survived 100 years. Once Upon an Art is the big sister I never had, my cousin, the reason I am an artist (too). In collage, I’ve highlighted only snips of her incredible command of language as poetry. With minimal words and intense curiosity about the world around her, she crafts short stories that belie typical speech, giving us glimpses of her genius. She divines an emotional story of our aging grandmother perhaps saying: “I forget how to use the words. I watch conversations and great-grandchildren grow in my very hands. I hide things and forget them, and therefore it gets easier. I fall asleep during the news, and so it gets easier.” We Never Surrender and But He Died both honor the legacy of our grandma. Widowed less than six months after the birth of her 5th child, she survived two World Wars, rations, The Great Depression, 50 years day after day in a sweatshop sewing men's shoes so her children could eat. Her story lives on in how I meet life, productive, stalwart, I can do it - and that has passed to my daughters, and her grandchildren and now mine. We have her story now, and traditions, making our daily bread and getting it all done to meet another day. Additional shipping/delivery charges will be handled between the artist and buyer after the purchase.