A project I’m currently working on is researching my immigrant ancestors and drawing at the places where they lived. It combines two hot topics of contemporary American times: immigration and genealogy. Often the records I find resemble the immigrant ancestor’s house that stood before me in this picture—far from complete. To piece together a familyContinue reading “What is Lost”
Tag Archives: immigration
Cold Memories
“Hey, if you need to warm up, you can come in to the office.” That’s what the nice guy at Columbus Square Auto (New London, CT) said to me when he found me drawing on his sidewalk. First he had asked if I was waiting for the bus. Then I told him what I wasContinue reading “Cold Memories”
Old and New Immigrants
When investigating my long-gone immigrant ancestors, I often find more immigrants living in the same houses, and filling the same neighborhoods. In this American drama, the set remains the same – only the cast changes. In the small, crowded city of Chelsea, Massachusetts (near Boston), the working class immigrants that were mostly Irish and RussianContinue reading “Old and New Immigrants”
Rubber Workers
The house where my great grandfather first lived in America is gone. It’s a parking lot now, overlooking the ramshackle remains of a once-booming rubber factory on the other side of the train tracks. As I drew the view from what would be the back of the house, I tried to imagine the first impressionContinue reading “Rubber Workers”
Visiting the Relatives 