2026 03 Standing Over My Father's Grave and Forgetting To Ask For an Apology

I was lucky to take a workshop with Lorraine Reynold called Mending Hearts: Stitching Recycled Fibers Into Sculpture in May of 2024. Here is the course description: "You will create 3-D fiber sculptures through wrapping and meditative stitches. Thread, needle, and fabric become vehicles that aid the repair of our lost and broken hearts. Learn to transform personal grief and longing into powerful pieces of art. You are encouraged to bring broken objects, keepsakes, or souvenirs you would like to place inside the heart."

This heart structure was made about my love Denice and is called The Heart’s Clothed Data I Find Difficult To Name.

I also made one about my Mommy appropriately called Mommy.

In February of 2026 my father would have been 105 years old. My father passed away on my birthday in March and this is the twentieth anniversary of that fact.

So it seemed a good time to make a Mending Heart about my Pops.

The supplies are gathered

I decided that the upper area of the box will be the spot for the photo of my Pops. The photo that I decided to use was a special modification made by my brother-in-law Robert Crocker. The original photo was of Sergeant Major Warren L. Niebuhr sitting at his desk in a Quonset hut in the Philippines during World War II. Bob used Photoshop to add a headshot of my Pops in his VFW regalia as a senior.

My Pops entered the Second World War from rural Wisconsin and served the majority of his time with the 32nd Infantry Division which was made up of Army National Guard units from Wisconsin and Michigan. It was nicknamed the Red Arrow Division.

The Red Arrow Division's insignia

My representation of that

The Mending Heart: the contents wrapped and sewn into the heart are a secret between my Pops and me.

Thus we have Standing Over My Father's Grave and Forgetting To Ask For an Apology. The title is a modification of the title for a book of poetry by Hanif Abdurraquib. It is 19"H X 7"W X 6"D. It consists of Wood Box, Wood Block, Wood Arrow, Nail, Father's Secret Personal Contents, Material, Sari Ribbon, Waxed Book Thread, Photograph, Resin and Paint.