Sears Catalog of the 1960’s. Deep in the memory who waited for the Sears Catalog to arrive. Days of paging through the sections informed young men and women how to dress, gesture, and belong.
Jamie is constantly on the lookout for the cultural ephemera that illuminate social expectations and dictate etiquette. These images are found in magazines, instructional texts, boxes of paper at flea markets and old books. These works often begin with a few images. Juxtaposition of several images create new meanings... a monkey is to a man as a porcupine is to a poodle. As humans we are fantastically skilled at making sense of strange out of context relationships. As the ephemera in her collection age and loose original context these images on scraps of paper become a playground of implication.
Jamie Murphy Hlynsky, by choosing paper as the material for these quilted objects has removed the functionality from the quilt. This gesture eliminates the "reward of use"and emphasizes the act of making these objects unique to the tradition of women in the home. This act of making is contemplative, meditative and giving reflections on what it is to be girl, wife, mother, house worker, political and aged.
These are quilts made by a single woman who thoughtfully examines specific periods in a woman’s life.
