Humble beginnings: salvaged roofing tin, aged and weathered to perfection in the misty mountains of my homestead in West Virginia. Holding the piece up to the light, illuminating the holes, indicates where I stitch with heavy button thread. The process of using light to determine my stitching feels almost sacred. Even now, I must close my eyes and put my hand over my heart, lest the feeling escape. After years of working with fabric, I started working with metal after a breast cancer diagnosis in July 2020. I knew no one that had breast cancer. I live a quiet, peaceful, soulful life, yet this level of solitude was new territory for me. I found a courage in myself I didn't know existed. I believe the transition of working with fabric to metal is an outward representation of this newfound

Underwater Constellation

2021

Julie Corcoran

(Mannington, West Virginia) 

Salvaged rusted tin, button, thread 

Humble beginnings: salvaged roofing tin, aged and weathered to perfection in the misty mountains of my homestead in West Virginia. Holding the piece up to the light, illuminating the holes, indicates where I stitch with heavy button thread. The process of using light to determine my stitching feels almost sacred. Even now, I must close my eyes and put my hand over my heart, lest the feeling escape. After years of working with fabric, I started working with metal after a breast cancer diagnosis in July 2020. I knew no one that had breast cancer. I live a quiet, peaceful, soulful life, yet this level of solitude was new territory for me. I found a courage in myself I didn't know existed. I believe the transition of working with fabric to metal is an outward representation of this newfound bravery. My "mettle" is now expressed in metal.