The Women Before Me

I've been collecting vintage photos for sometime now.  At first, like many, I was drawn to sweet images of children.  But lately, I've gravitated to interesting images of women - particularly those with unusual clothing, accessories or backgrounds.  Most of the women are pretty, or at least handsome, though not all.  Some are portraits of the women alone, but many are posed with their families and friends beside them.

As I was searching through my collection looking for just the right image for some art I've been working on, I started thinking of the women in my own family and how each one of them contributed to the woman I am today.  I knew intimately the four generations of women who preceded me on my mother's side.  We lived within blocks of my grandparents and great-grandmother.  My mother's sisters lived not much farther away.  And so these women touched my life on nearly a daily basis.

Even my great-great-grandmother was a part of my life, though she had passed many years before I was born.  My family was a family of storytellers (most of them true and un-embellished, though I suspect not all) who instilled in me the essence of those who had came before: their hopes and dreams, struggles and accomplishments, values and beliefs. And so those women became a part of who I am, what I dream about, struggle toward, value and believe.  Their images are my image - my mother's complexion and love of art, my grandmother's quick wit and deep brunette hair, great-grandmother's sense of fun, love of big hats and gardens, and great-great's quiet introspection, strength and love of needlework.

As I head to my studio these women will be there with me - looking at other women peering out of sepia colored photos, choosing paint and embellishments, telling a new story of my own.

Four generations before me.

Great-great grandmother - Martha Moore

Great-grandmother Nellie Brewer

Grandmother - Laverne Dew

My mother - Helen Jayne as a young girl.

Here are some photos, that I recently fell in love with, of women I've never known: