Heritage Works Collection
Heritage Works
Narratives 
​MENNONITE PREACHER
Visual expression was sought that would symbolize directness, truth-telling, and simplicity. I attempt to do this by employing photo silk-screen paint as a medium and recording the image directly on raw canvas duck material. The devotional head covering worn by my mother on the left, and the plain suit of my father in the center panel were truly significant for me, and a very present reminder of our “nonconformity” to the world. Black and white panels contrast color panels in a single unit to symbolize being in, but not of the world. 
BARLEY BUNDLES WITH WRENCH
An ethical dilemma was encountered with the growing of good barley, because it was sent to brewing companies to make beer instead of being used to feed animals. Alcoholic beverages were forbidden. Barley got tested at the grain elevator regarding its impurity content. At church, my friends liked to compare how our farm crops were doing. When it came to barley gathering, contrary to other grains, everyone told how weedy theirs was. I mistakenly said ours was “great” one year. 
YULETIDE INVENTION
At Christmastime each year I longed for a Christmas tree. My parents said it was a pagan practice. This answer was puzzling because the school had a very large tree in the auditorium where we performed the Advent story. One year, my friends took me to the Lutheran church to see its beautiful tree. My imagined tree in the dark of night, while others slept, was even more spectacular and regal because it was decked in gold. 
COMMUNAL RITUAL: HARVEST
The entire family participated in the harvest during “threshing days.” Everyone had a job, whether it was as “water boy” or pitching bundles of grain into the threshing machine, hauling wheat to the granary, or preparing the banquet style noon dinner.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JD 436
This John Deere, Model A, tractor is identical to the one I drove day after day in the large fields of North Dakota. We had it for a long time. The color of green varied with the time of day, seasons, weather conditions and, of course, my attitude. 
STOPPING BY THE WOODS
Robert Frost’s poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, was in our fourth grade reader. It promptly became my all-time favorite. Each day our school bus drove through a wood as we crossed a creek. I pictured our horse, Maudy, in these woods waiting to be driven home. 
SELF-PORTRAIT WITH DOVE
Two major historic religious traditions have influenced me: One Catholic and the other Anabaptist. One exudes rich visual imager and symbols and through art history it became my artistic heritage. The other embraces peace and communal life. Both are important and relevant to me in different ways. Biblical stories carved on the façade of a Tenth Avenue Manhattan church symbolize and characterize the affinity I’ve experienced between faith and art. The theology of the martyrs has evolved new dimensions and significance for me as I redefine their message in visual ways. 
BOY WITH MILKWEED POD
During W.W. II, the milkweed pod contents were used as kapok in life preserving jackets. I secretly defied the church’s anti-war stand on this single project, amidst victory gardens and war bond projects, because I reasoned it was important to save lives. My second grade teacher, Miss Naffig, said I did the right thing and only the two of us would know about it. Incidentally, this same teacher earlier affirmed my art skills by requesting seasonal color drawings on the classroom chalkboard. 
MOTHER’S QUILTING PARTY
The piecing and quilting of bed covers was a perpetual activity at my home. Many were needed for a family of twelve. 
DAKOTA DEPARTURE
The format of this work imitates the composition of early altarpieces. The lower panel or “predella” contains supporting themes, thus completing the narrative. The cycle of arrivals and departures, winter and summer, outdoor and indoor work, snow and gardens, provided a grid on which a variety of rituals were exercised. 
TIMBERS AND BLOCKS
The tumbling block design, my favorite of mother’s quilts, intrigued me at an early age. I was surprised to discover at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that the “tumbling block” design dates back to classical antiquity and is known as the “Mosaic from Antioch.” These “reversible cubes,” according to art critic, E.H. Gombrich, graced the walls and pavements in Plato’s time. This design motif serves to unify the Heritage Works. In this work, it is juxtaposed with barn beams. 
RED NECKTIE
At about twelve years of age, while shopping with my parents, I spotted the tie of my dreams in a department store. When they came over to tell me there were leaving the store, my father commented, “Too bright and worldly” and we departed without the tie.
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