Faking It With Family

2010

Some of my most treasured memories are rooted in time spent with loved ones, while others are bittersweet fantasies of moments that never came to pass.

Faking it with Family was a surreal representation of a family gathering, where the table settings served as a proxy for the personalities of absent individuals. Each setting was carefully crafted to reveal the unique characteristics of the person who might have occupied that seat, through subtle differences in the objects they left behind.

I created each glass mug by hand, embracing the imperfections that came with learning a new material. The mugs varied in size, shape, and functionality, with some featuring multiple handles, often attached one on top of the other.

To create the crabs shown, I began by drawing various crab bodies with ink on paper, then photocopied and pasted the prints onto insulation foam and cut out with a bandsaw to give them depth.

I took a hands-on approach to crafting every element of Faking it with Family. I built the extended picnic table, created faux "Hoss" beer cans, filled steins with birdseed and breas flower to mimic the appearance of beer and foam, sewed a canopy to envelop the staging, and printed a continuous image to serve as a newspaper table covering. By meticulously crafting each detail, I aimed to create an immersive environment that would invite viewers to ponder the stories and relationships behind the absent family members.