I grew up on an acreage across the gravel road from a grain elevator. That elevator was everything. It was right out our window. Silent, still, huge. I remember passing small towns on the highway. They all had them. The town or village name was displayed proudly on these giant icons so you always knew where you were. My parents were not grain farmers, but there's something terribly nostalgic about these massive silhouettes all over the prairies. I knew they were becoming a thing of the past, but when I read that out of 3,240 Saskatchewan grain elevators, only SIXTY are left, I got all choked up. Okay - I actually cried! You might be laughing at me, but I challenge you to go through photo archives on the internet and not get goosebumps when you look at the haunting photos of these beasts all abandoned and decaying. I remember when my parents put me up on the kitchen counter one night so I could see out the window. Our Big Giant was on fire and burning to the ground. THAT was a huge fire, let me tell you.
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| Hamlin, Saskatchewan, 1977 |
You can guess what I'm going to try to do this summer. I need photos. Road trips, here I come! I'm not the only one nostalgic for them. A Needle Pulling Thread's current magazine has a fabulous article on the Heritage Rug Hookers of Saskatoon along with two dozen photos of their gorgeous works of art, each featuring a grain elevator in a prairie scene. Yep - rugs as art. You would have to see it to believe it. Those women have made some gorgeous pieces! They are currently on exhibit in galleries.
So what's my point? Well, remember this piece I made?
It's quilted and finished. Mom said, "stick a tree in it!". I had thought it needed an elevator in it. After looking through all those photos, I did it. Now, it's done, and just how I want it. ; )
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| Prairie Sunrise. |
There. It's just how I remember it.
still a work in progress...
~Monika
