Shadow Boxes, Memory Boxes and Shrines

See more of my shadow boxes & shrines on Flickr

Artwork and text copyright 2006 Carolyn M. Brady


Vaquero
Matchbox Shrine

Day of the Dead nicho honoring the original cowboys. The images are from Ten Two Studios Dia de los Muertos faux postage collection and Wild Wild West image CD.

The objects in the shrine are a skull bead, a cow-shaped milagro and a sparkly yellow flower to represent the marigolds often used to decorate Day of the Dead altars.

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The image of my grandfather standing in front of his first place in Hood River, Oregon, is actually a pocket in which there are cut-out figures of my grandparents taken before their marriage. There is text on the back of the cut-outs and the back of the box.

Obaasan was a Picture Bride
Memory box made from cigar box, origami paper, photocopies of family photos and other documents, computer-generated text, foam core and cardstock.

This box tells the story of my grandparents' arranged marriage. The central image in the shadow box is mounted on foam-core and shows my grandparents at the time of my grandmother's arrival in Seattle from Japan in 1918.

The cover image is a color photocopy of a vintage apple crate label showing Mt. Hood.

View front of box
View of side and back
Celestial Spheres
Assemblage with found objects (9"x 7.5")


The cigar box, round kitchen trivet and wire were bought at rummage sales in Hustisford, Wis., and the rusty washers on the trivet were found on my sister's farm in Hustisford. The woman's face was heat-transfered to the wood from a photocopy of an 1880s cabinet card photograph from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Alternate title: Domestic Spheres
Mini-shrines made with matchboxes covered with origami and mulberry papers and embellished with rubber-stamped charms made with gloss white shrink plastic.
   
   

Carolyn M. Brady

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This page last updated 22 Feb 2009