Artist Karen Cummings shows her textile art piece on the theme of war and remembrance that’s on display at the Okanagan Art Gallery in Osoyoos. Cummings said it was inspired by a poem she found written by hand in the back of a library book, apparently by a mother who lost her son in Vietnam. It contained the line, “The more I cried, the less I spoke.” (Richard McGuire photo)

A poem handwritten into the back of a library book inspired a local textile artist to create a work commemorating those who have died in war.

Karen Cummings, who lives in Hedley, but is a member of the Okanagan Art Gallery in Osoyoos, created the large work that is now on display at the gallery.

It incorporates a military uniform as well as other pieces of fabric to tell a story of war and remembrance.

“I was thumbing through a public library book,” said Cummings. “I found handwritten on the back cover in ink a poem by a woman who describes her son going off to the Vietnam War and he doesn’t return. And the line in the poem said, ‘the more I cried, the less I spoke.’”

It was a poetry book that she found at a library in Cambridge, Ontario, where she lived prior to moving to Hedley a year ago. The war poem obviously wasn’t part of the original book.

Cummings said she began wondering about who the woman was who wrote the poem and what would inspire someone to write it in the back of a library book. Had the poem been shared elsewhere? She asked at the library, but they had no answers.

“It just created a whole bunch of intrigue for me,” said Cummings. “As an artist, when you start to think about something, it expands in your world.”

Cummings, who has been doing textile art for about 10 years, visited an army surplus store to look at the uniforms and ask questions about the fabrics used.

The one she chose was not American and not from the Vietnam War period. Rather, it was dated 1956 and was a Canadian uniform. She intended it to be a more general comment, inspired by the anonymous poem, but universal.

It was a fine garment with pockets and hidden buttons, all beautifully done.

“It struck me and it was so incredible that so much care is given into creating a uniform that is meant to last a lifetime,” said Cummings. “And yet we give it to a soldier who is in a precarious situation that could last a very short period of time. It was just so interesting to think about that.”

Cummings also incorporated an army shirt into her work and other material represents the crosses of graves. There’s a green, wooly material representing the grass.

Cummings believes that fabric creates a visceral response since we’ve been connected to fabrics since birth.

“You only have to see a piece of material and it brings back a memory,” she said.

Cummings said she uses fabric to conjure up images and feelings.

“I’m not a literal artist,” she said. “I don’t actually do scenery or landscapes.”

Sometimes her work takes her in unexpected directions as it progresses.

While this piece is large, her other pieces at the gallery are mostly smaller.

“I’m new to British Columbia and new to this gallery,” Cummings said. “I’ve done lots of smaller pieces to introduce people to textile art. A lot of people don’t know what textile art is. It might be a really big jump for them to buy a bigger piece, so a smaller piece introduces people to the whole medium of textile work.”

Unlike her smaller pieces that people have bought for their homes, this one is unlikely to be bought for someone’s living room, she admits.

“This piece needs to go to some public venue, I would think,” she said. “Be it a library, a hospital or a school or something like that would probably be ideal. A museum or something.”

The Okanagan Art Gallery is located at 8302 Main Street in Osoyoos.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times