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 ST. AGNES ACADEMY IS HAVING A 40TH REUNION
St. Agnes Academy a figure about reunions and aging.
High School reunions memorialized in this fabric sculptured art piece.
Jane Darin is internationally know for her capture of facial expressions in cloth.
Using polymer clay and cloth, Jane Darin created this one of a kind sculpture.
Facial expressions in cloth - thie three dimensional artwork is an example.
Magical artwork, three dimensional figurative sulptures. A collectors piece of contemporary art - figurative sculpture. Needle sculpting and polymer clay add to this one of a kind finely crafted artwork. A unique art form - sculpture in cloth makes a great gift idea.
Personialized gifts like this piece are a speciality of Jane Darin's Studio.
When my high school had its fortieth reunion, each person was given a booklet with photos taken from their senior yearbook and current photographs. I was struck by how little the actual facial appearance had changed in the two photographs; how I could recognize each person still in the later photograph. 

Yes, many had gained weight and added wrinkles; yet, the basics were recognizable. That booklet was the inspiration for this piece. The poem came to me after the piece was completed. It was then that I realized the piece also had to do with how I felt about my mother’s death.
 

  
 Other collectors of my work have said: 
"Your pieces are so happy, it makes me feel good to look at them."
                       Pat Hanson, Carlsbad, CA

 "Your work is very clever and so well crafted, I'm always awed at what I see."
                             Rita Reynolds, Indianapolis, IN
  

  
This piece is sold for $5,400.00.   
  

 MATERIALS

  • Size: 18" tall figures; 24" overall

  • Faces: needle sculpted Swiss pima cotton knit, hand painted 

  • Base: 14.5" x 18.5" wood, paint, fabric

  • Accessories: wire, batting, nylons, acrylic paint, chalk pastels, polymer clay, wood, cloth, clock, wood beads, charms, copper wire

  • Hair: wool

 STORY

I began the piece by choosing all the various blues in my stash that reminded me of my youth including a navy blue wool fabric for my uniform skirt and a white fabric for my blouse. And because I was always freezing in winter in Indiana, I chose a fabric for long johns for the younger figure. And because I was somewhat of a rebel, I gave her bright red lace on her under drawers.

Once I had selected the fabrics, the piece literally grew under my fingers as I added shapes and colors. The second figure followed, representing me forty years later. When I tell this to people, they are astonished asking, "You didn't draw this out ahead of time?" I don't draw easily so drawing is never a chosen part of my process.

On the side of the mirror facing the younger me I put time (clock) and hands as the first place I thought aging happens. On the part of the mirror facing the older me I put ripe bunches of grapes and a rose colored mirror with a peacock. You can guess the meanings of these symbols as well as the sprinkled dancing charms that surround her skirt.

As I said above, it wasn't until I awoke with the lines of the poem, that I discovered what I was expressing in this conception.  It was a healing event in my life and since has been a healing event for others.
  
 POEM

St. Agnes Academy is Having a Fortieth Reunion
            ©Jane Darin 1995
I longed to climb the senior stairs
And searched You out, my God.
I pleaded for my mother, "Save her."
Yet covered my ears and cried, "Don’t call me!"
Frightened by her mortality I stared into mirrors,
I studied the backs of hands, smooth, clear.
"Will I grow fat? Will I be sick?"
And You whispered only, "Yes. In time. Wait."

In yearbook pictures, the progress of her cancer lies on my face.
She dies. She is fifty-four.
I am sixteen. I am motherless
I climb the senior stairs to You, my Lord.
I am scared. Now I plead, "Take me too."
And You whisper only, "I will. In time. Wait."

I am fifty-seven and I realize only the body dies.
Life is a spiral ever drawing me closer to You, my God.
What is there to fear?
I have climbed the senior stairs.
The backs of my hands are stained, wrinkled.
I am fat, yet celebrate my age.
I see Your face in mirrors and ask,
"What would You have me do with these extra years?"
And You whisper only, “Come. In time. Wait