KU Medical Center
Ellen Keyser Endelman "Ecclesiastes 3:1"
Artist: Ellen Keyser, Chaplain Resident
Medium: Fiber Art, Mixed
Artist Statement: For me, the creation of art, particularly fiber art, is way of celebrating my heritage, and the women who taught me to sew and express myself through this kind of art. As well as to use it as a way of caring for others and expressing love. This piece is an apron made of a quilt top that my Grandmother Mae Nelson and I had started making together when I was young and learning to sew. She was taken from us by Alzheimer’s Disease before she and I were able to finish the quilt. I had held on to the partially finished work for many years, before I decided to turn it into an apron this fall. For me, this piece represents hope in many facets. It is a garment which is worn for work, and work which is often done in order to care for others, and theologically I find hope in the gift and privilege of that labor. Made of a quilt, which to me represents love and comfort, wearing such a garment is dressing oneself for the work of loving others, by clothing oneself in the love that we know. I find hope in the knowledge that I am able to carry on the work that she and I started, using the skills she taught me, physical, emotional, creative, and spiritual. Work that the women in my family have been doing for generations, and which cannot be stopped by death or grief.
Ellen Keyser Endelman "Ecclesiastes 3:1"
Artist: Ellen Keyser, Chaplain Resident
Medium: Fiber Art, Mixed
Artist Statement: For me, the creation of art, particularly fiber art, is way of celebrating my heritage, and the women who taught me to sew and express myself through this kind of art. As well as to use it as a way of caring for others and expressing love. This piece is an apron made of a quilt top that my Grandmother Mae Nelson and I had started making together when I was young and learning to sew. She was taken from us by Alzheimer’s Disease before she and I were able to finish the quilt. I had held on to the partially finished work for many years, before I decided to turn it into an apron this fall. For me, this piece represents hope in many facets. It is a garment which is worn for work, and work which is often done in order to care for others, and theologically I find hope in the gift and privilege of that labor. Made of a quilt, which to me represents love and comfort, wearing such a garment is dressing oneself for the work of loving others, by clothing oneself in the love that we know. I find hope in the knowledge that I am able to carry on the work that she and I started, using the skills she taught me, physical, emotional, creative, and spiritual. Work that the women in my family have been doing for generations, and which cannot be stopped by death or grief.