Homemade borscht simmered and steamed on the stove as Julianna Kirwin cooked with her Babcia.
The Albuquerque artist centered her solo show of woodcuts and monotypes at Santa Fe’s Hecho a Mano on her memories of her Polish grandmother. The show will hang through July 29.
Kirwin’s “babcia” (it means “grandmother” in Polish) spoke no English and came to this country alone in 1910 at the age of 16.
Kirwin never learned Polish. The pair communicated with their hands while Babcia taught her granddaughter how to cook traditional Polish foods.
“I made a very large, life-sized work of her,” Kirwin said. “It took me quite a while to carve the wood. It’s almost like having her presence in the studio.”
The artist’s memories of her grandmother move from her signature aprons to her colorful table settings.
“I think I only learned from her a lot of hands-on knowledge,” Kirwin said. “She was always wearing her apron. She lived in a very Polish neighborhood” in New Britain, Connecticut.
A retired art teacher who came here to study at the University of New Mexico, Kirwin continues to research her grandmother through the University of Connecticut archives.
BEAUTIFUL CONTENT. RESPONSIVE.
Kirwin can only guess at the reasons her relative left Poland.
“I have one photo taken before she left,” she said. “Also, in Poland, there were boundary issues with the Russians. The men were off defending the land. The women stayed home and did everything and became so strong.”
In the show, Kirwin tried to recreate her grandmother’s kitchen through woodblock, linotype and monotype. The everyday subjects remind her of her grandmother: her aprons, cookware, tablecloth and food, as well as her long hair, which she combed for hours every day.