“Museum Closet” (24″ x 15.5″ Mixed media collage, 2014

“Dear Emma…” was the name of an exhibit of prints inspired by postcards that were sent to my great-aunt Emma Morgan in the 1910’s. The exhibit was held at the Red Ochre Gallery, in St. John’s, Newfoundland in February, 2014.

These collages were created during my residency at St. Micheal’s Printshop in January 2013. But the project started years ago with a challenge from my mom, author Bernice Morgan. On a cardboard box that came from my dad’s family house in Coley’s Point, Conception Bay North, my mom wrote: “This is valuable stuff—from Coleys Pt—some day it will make a book or an art exhibit.” The “valuable stuff” was the collection of 100-year-old postcards, received by twenty-something Emma Morgan.

My cousin, author Trudy Morgan-Cole, also took up the challenge and wrote a historical novel inspired by the postcards. “That Forgetful Shore” was published by Breakwater Books in 2012 and won the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage and History Award (www.thatforgetfulshore.com).