Of this topic, Maria says:
“For me, objects and mementos represent all the ways my mother tried to teach us about Italy, although we could not go there ourselves. For example, she brought a big black metal trunk full of biancheria [linen] when she married my father, and came to America in steerage. This trunk was really important to her, because it was filled with all the dresses, scarves and nightgowns and towels and other kitchen objects that she made as part of her dowry. The pieces were often very rough, homemade pieces. I can remember towels; they were very rough to the touch, but had very delicate flowers embroidered on them.
They represented the Italy she left behind and tried to bring with her to share with us, so that Italy would be a real place for us. I still use her handmade tablecloth and dresser scarves 25 years after she died, and I use an exquisite tablecloth made by my grandmother more than 100 years ago. My mother could not afford to give us the kind of heirlooms wealthy people have, but she gave us things that she had made in Italy as a girl with the material she had on hand. And they represented for her the Italy she loved. They were symbols of the love she had for us and what she was trying to pass on”
Painting on the JAST cover is by Maria - see her artwork at mariamazziottigillan.com
Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.
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