Jeanette’s room at the Yorkton district care home is filled with books, photographs of family, drawings from grandchildren, and paintings she has done in her younger years. When we visit, her granddaughters are often there, along with their mother, drawing, reading, or sitting with their grandmother. The room comes alive with the energy of three generations of women, sharing space and creating together.
Twila shares stories with us about her mother. Jeanette seems to have done it all. Raising a family, working as a school teacher, speaking multiple languages, drawing, painting, and writing. One of Jeanette’s more ambitious undertakings was writing a book. Originally published in 1976, Maria’s Memories details the life and memories of Jeanette’s paternal grandmother. Maria moved to South Eastern Saskatchewan from a small town in the Austrian province of Bukowina in 1895. Jeanette interviewed her grandmother over 50 years ago, gathering stories about her youth. She assembled these conversations into Maria’s Memories, including a series of hand-drawn illustrations. Twila recently re-published Maria’s Memories, something she wanted to do for a long time. Re-visiting this book also inspired other threads of creative exploration for the entire family.
Maria had always wanted to visit the Carpathian mountains in Europe but never had the opportunity to do so. On a trip to the Rockie Mountains Twila’s daughter, Isabella, poses as Maria, re-creating a scene from her great-great grandmother’s imagination, looking westward across rolling fields, towards the rocky mountains. Photographs from this trip are included in the exhibition.
On their summer holiday in 2022, the family spent a week together on a houseboat. Jeannette joined with her wheelchair and lots of support from her children and grandchildren. While on the houseboat, the family shared memories and stories about Jeanette, which were captured on video by their family friend, Victor Aguayo. The video captures moments in time when three generations of the family are together. In many ways, the video makes reference to Maria’s Memories, with multiple generations remembering and sharing moments together.
“[the lead artists] let it grow organically… whatever came out they helped lead and form our ideas.”
– Twila Napoleoni
