A Place Called Home

Story Summary

A Place Called Home is inspired by the incredible people who call Bend, Oregon home. Using hand-pressed metal letters, you embedded phrases like coordinates, “#love,” and “Be Nice…You’re in Bend,” then layered transparent colors to represent hikers, skiers, river-floaters, and creatives in distinct hues. Begun in Bend and finished in your childhood home near Pittsburgh, this work bridges old and new homes, honoring community, nature, and the beautiful ineffable spirit of Bend.

Story

This creation is inspired by some of the wonderful Bend residents I met. After investing hours laying out the lines of design, I decided the people who call Bend home have a common thread. I wanted to honor those that I met and call Bend home and share more of who I see them. While visiting the Campfire Hotel, I came across a book called “Ineffable.” I learned, ineffable means too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words. It is definitely an amazing way to describe Bend. The cover inspired the latitude and longitude for the top line of the subliminal layer, along with 2 friends that have the latitude and longitude tattooed on their arms. I was looking for more characters to complete the first line and felt #love was appropriate. I hopped down to the last line to determine how I wanted to wrap up the bottom row of the work. My favorite phrase around town is “Be Nice…You’re in Bend.” I was happy how it began and ended with Bend. I noticed an error that I missed a space between Be and Nice; it’s perfectly imperfect. To fill in the rest of the work, I needed to decide what I loved most about Bend, besides the beauty of nature all around…I landed on all the friendly people I met around town. After I arrived in July 2021 and getting to know the area, in November 2021, I began the inspiration of this painting, inspired by the creatives and outdoor lovers that reside there. I hand painted and pressed each metal letter to tell the story of who I discovered makeup beautiful Bend. To make sure all those that I represented and showed up in the painting, I used Golden (branded) transparent paint. As I began painting with yellow at the top, sections of different colors began emerging beautifully. A fun pattern was emerging…nature loving hikers were painted with the color green; sculptures and climbers were painted with the color brown; skiers and snowboarders were painted with the color white, “Float the River” friendly people were painted with the color blue. The creatives, artists, and photographers were painted in vibrant orange. Bend is a wonderful place that many call home. This work began in Bend and while I was traveling home for Christmas, I finished the painting in my parent’s home. It was the home I grew up in, outside Pittsburgh, PA. As I was deciding on the name of this creation and as I reference Bend, as my new home, the name naturally emerged as: A place called home. Enjoy!

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