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My presentation represent my heritage because the colors represent the Armenian flag. The purple flower is a Forget Me Not Flower that represents the Genocide that happened to the Armenians and how you shouldn’t forget about it. The trumpet represents the trumpet that my Great Grandfather played after he escaped the turks.

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My mug and plate represent me and my family though color, pattern, and design. The colors represent me because it is white with inlays of blue, and my favorite color is blue. I chose a darker blue because I feel like it’s more regal and down to earth. The colors and patterns are simple wedgwood, a design that originated in England, from where half of my family has lived (most have been born there too). My cup is simplistic, having only two emphasised sections on either side, so I did my best to smooth down the sides. I also made a braided handle to give my cup some flair, and because I wanted to know how to make the more complex handle.

Story:
My grandmother was one of the 1.5 million people (Wikipedia), including many children, who were evacuated from London during the blitz in World War II. She was only a few years old and was sent away from her home without her mother. She was slightly higher social class than my grandfather, even though they grew up a few doors down from each other. My grandfather had to stay in London while buildings collapsed all around him during the Nazi bombing raids. When he grew up, he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) and worked his way up to being a non-commissioned officer and squadron leader flying tankers. My grandparents married in England in 1959, had four children, and moved to Canada in 1975 after my grandfather retired from the RAF.  They now live in Calgary.

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My mug and plate represents me because my cultural heritage is Taiwanese, my religion is Christian, and something that has been a family tradition for a long time was music and singing. For Taiwan, I did a scatter of blue suns because that’s the symbol on the Taiwan flag. I did a cross in the middle because being Christian is a huge part of my family. The music notes were put on as the border because ever since I was a little girl, I remember my family karaoke on Chinese New year.

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My mug represents the little knowledge of my past heritage that still exists. I don’t know a lot about my family heritage so when I found an article about one of my ancestors it was very exciting. It is important for me to know some of my heritage to acknowledge where my family came from.

The story of my ancestor has been passed on from generation to generation so it is presumed that it has gotten changed over the years. But now we hear and tell the story and such, his name was Chief Joseph Orono and he was the Chief of the Penobscots Tribe. He was titled as the Chief after the rumor that he was kidnapped by Native Americans on the Penobscots River in Maine. Along with Joseph’s Father and Mother, he was taken hostage by the tribe in 1704. Both of the parents were french which gives me a sense of my heritage. There are not many records of him until he turned 50 years old. He was a roman catholic that happened to be an Indian Chief. Orono passed with the name of a warrior hoping to live a happy a peaceful afterlife. Soon before his death he said “To kill the living will not bring the dead to life” (2).

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My mug represents me because it incorporates hispanic symbols (Colombia & El Salvadorian). Since I lived in Colombia, I decided to use a Colombian hat design. I made this the center of my mug, and the sides of my plate. I also added a pattern from an El Salvadoran church, because my grandmother is originally from there. I added the blue crosses on my mug and blue stripes on the corners of my plate. I wanted to use repetition, so I focused on symmetry one each side. I only had one Colombian hat design, so that was the emphasis of my mug.

Story:
A story that my grandmother once told me is about her life as a little girl. She was born in El Salvador and lived there with her family. However, her father was not happy with the politics in their area, he decided to move to America for more opportunities. He took her father, mother and brother with him, and left my grandmother alone. The reason for this is that there was a low supply of houses in California where my grandmother, Olga’s parents were moving.

My grandmother was left alone in El Salvador with her grandmother and sister. She missed her family dearly as she spent around four years without her parents. When she finally got the opportunity to join her parents in California, she was overjoyed. She moved to California from El Salvador and had to accommodate to all the changes. She had to make new friends, learn a new language and go do different schools, but the great thing is that she was with her family. Eventually, my grandmother got used her new life, but we will never forget where she comes from and her heritage
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My mug represents me because my family all came from India. I go to India every other year, and it gives me memories I will never forget. I chose the colors from the Indian flag and the center where the mug sits is the Ashok Chakra. In the center of my mug are om signs which represent Hinduism which is my religion.

Heritage Story

“I came to America with $20 in my pocket.” My Nana would say.

“I came with $10 in my pocket!” My dad would say.

And on and on these dialogues would continue. Nana would always remind me about how fortunate I am, and always lecturing me about how I am so spoiled and I have my own phone. I always get mad at Nana and my dad the moment they yell at me, but I’ve gained a respect for them. They both came from poor families and made enough money to come to the US. I love listening to their stories about how hard things were for them before they came to America.

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My mug represents me in many ways. It does because first, it has a Syrian pattern on the front of it that shows the culture that I am from. Also, I used colors that were in the original pattern because that is what I thought would be the colors. They were brown, red, and a little green, which are also the colors I think of when I think of Syrian patterns. I think that it also represents me because nothing or nobody is perfect, like my mug. I think that it represents me and I am happy about my final mug.

Family Heritage Story

On my dad’s side, I am Scottish and German, and on my mom’s side, I am Italian and Syrian. My grandmother was telling me about my grandfather’s mom, who was Syrian. My great-grandmother Mary immigrated from Syria. She immigrated from Damascus, the capital of Syria. Her family was from theres, and I am not sure if they immigrated with her or not. She was not a kid, but young, when she came over. Then in America, she met my great-grandfather, and they had my grandfather.

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My mug represents me because I used celtic knots and the common, Claddagh symbol, front and center on the mug. My plate also represents me because like the mug, it is using the colors of the Irish flag and it has a celtic knot on the front. I used the Claddagh symbol instead of the clover that I originally wanted because the clover is the most common and I wanted to do something original. My heritage is extremely important to me because my family hasn’t been in the United States too long… I am the third generation to be here. I have family in Ireland that I am in contact with and I visited them last year. I love the Irish culture and Ireland itself.

I stood at the back of the boat waving to my family. I didn’t know when I would see them again, if ever. Honkkkkkkk. Off I went from the port in Abruzzi, Italy to a new land in order to help my family. I was fifteen and immigrating to the U.S. to find a job and help my family. My childhood friend had immigrated to Boston and worked at a small masonry company… I figured that I would be able to have a job there, but the issue was getting from New York City to Boston once I arrived.

I finally arrived at Ellis Island with fifty dollars in my pocket and hope for the future. After being cleared by the immigration officers, I found the railroad tracks that lead to Boston. With now, only a little less than fifty dollars in my pocket, this was my only option. I decided to walk from New York City to Boston stopping along the way to work and make some money. It was long and strenuous, but I knew I had to get there.

After quite a while walking down the railroad tracks making pit stops along the way, I finally reached the city of Boston and, luckily, got hired right away. We were just a small construction company but did good work and made a low but steady income. I enjoyed my job and enjoyed seeing my friend for the first time in a long time, but I missed my family and Italy dearly. After about one year of hard working and homesickness, I finally made enough money to send for my wife to immigrate to the U.S.

Many years later, our construction company became much bigger and was honored the job of building the brick buildings on the Boston University campus. Years later I had children and was raising a family with my wife. I still missed Italy but enjoyed time with my family, especially my grandchildren. My granddaughter, Lisa, and I used to walk from Boston to Revere Beach. On those walks I think back to when I was fifteen years old and on a boat heading to a new land with nothing besides a little money. If it wasn’t for walking I probably wouldn’t have the life that I had.

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My mug really shows my heritage/culture because it mainly shows my greek ethnicity. The blue waves on the border are meant to be wave pattern to show the beautiful waves in Greece. The eye in the middle of my Mug is believed that people have the power to cast spells on you by looking at you. This design seen on multiple civilizations is supposed to protect you against the “evil eye” of people who wanted to wish bad upon you.

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My family came from Russia before World War 2. All of the stories that have been passed down have been about my Great and Great, Great Grandparents and about their education. It is important to me because we all bond over all of these stories. My mug represents me because the shape is not perfect, the designs are not symmetrical, and the handle looks factory made. I believe the balance of the two extremes sums me up.

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My mug represents me because I am mostly Irish and British and the symbols show that. From my story, Henri Le Caron came was born in Britain and he ended up working as a a spy for Britain once he arrived in america. There, he was in an important Irish association. Because of him, he knew to warn the British government of upcoming attacks, and they could avoid them/prepare for them. I am Irish on both my mom and dads side and am over 50% Irish. I am British on only my moms side. The green design on the bottom is an Irish symbol. The flag is a British flag and is red and blue because those are the colors representing that country.

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The main element for my mug was a fish. I chose a fish because it was not only part of my Taiwanese culture, it was also a Christian symbol. The fish in China and Taiwan is considered with the connotations of being lucky and having fortune. One of the Christian symbols is the fish, since Jesus made many connections to the fish, one of which are his disciples. I feel that these are two of my most important heritage, and the fish I feel was a good representation of both of these, which kind of represents me.

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I am of Irish heritage. My great grandparents immigrated from Ireland and became United States citizens. My mug represents my heritage because of the many Irish symbols I used and the colors I will choose. The first symbol I used was the Celtic Cross, which represents my culture by its origination and the faith it represents, the Roman Catholic faith, which is the faith I practice. I also chose the Celtic Triple Knot, which is an Irish symbol, and one of the symbols on my great great grandfathers’ monument in Ireland. I also chose a shamrock with two flags, the flag of Ireland and the American Flag, to represent that I am a very patriotic american and proud of my Irish culture. On the handle of my mug, I engraved the shape of my great great uncles’ monument. The colors I chose to use are dark green and white, a combination seen in many Irish designs.

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My cultural heritage is complicated, I am both Jewish and Christian, Irish and American, Polish and German. Because of all the complicated combinations of cultures that represent me, I thought that my mug should be just as complicated. From, the flag of the Polish Red Cross, to the simple square pattern of a traditional Irish home design, my mug represents the many sides that me and family have, and the similarities and differences amongst them give life and adventure to the finished mug. The connections that my grandmothers and grandfathers had with these cultures and groups makes my family proud, happy, and thankful. I know that this mug will represent those emotions with clarity and confidence when being displayed and used in my house and in my everyday life.

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For my mug I made an american flag surrounding the outside, with the inside of the mug being pink, and a message on the bottom inside saying “My body my choice”. This quote is from the protesters who are fighting against Donald Trump (our president). This is important to my family because being a family of all women (besides my dad), we put importance into our rights. Since we could not attend the Boston march for women's rights because we were skiing, I felt that I should make this mug to show how much I care about our rights, even though I didn't attend the march. I made the inside pink because it is a very stereotypical color for women, but I felt it is a color that would add attention and stand out to others so they could also see the quote on the bottom. When somebody is using my mug, each time they finish the drink in it, they will be reminded of our rights as women.

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The mug’s patterns and designs represents my Persian heritage and my muslim faith. The moon crescent with a star is the internationally recognized symbol for Islam, and therefore the crescent represents that part of my background. I decided to replace the star with a Persian pattern to show my Persian heritage. The pattern is a simple representation of what you might see on Persian pottery.

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My mug represents me in two ways. The design, and the shape. The design is a korean vector design (supposedly) and the characters on the front of the mug is the korean character for love. The shape is simple but the designs bring out more to it. I feel like this is me. I’m not simple but the designs are like my personality, and without the designs I am simple.

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I come from a Chinese heritage. My mug mimics a Chinese cup I have at home. Although, that cup is smaller and doesn’t have a handle, the cup had an egg shape which I wanted to use in my mug. I wanted to put a Chinese symbols because that represents my family, and the pattern I chose represents a flower, and my great great grandmother's name was named after a flower, Mei. I also wanted to put red on the flag, because in Chinese the color red is luck. My cultural heritage is very important because it has roots. I am Chinese, but I was born in America. I feel like I have to know my Mother’s culture, while I have to know the American culture.

My mother is an immigrant from China. When she was a little girl, she dreamed of being a scientist and wanted to go to a top university. She worked extremely hard in her country to be a top student. In 3rd grade, my mother was at the top of the class, she moved up a grade. Surprisingly, she was still top of the class in 4th grade. She remained the top student at her school for the remainder of her early years. When she was 17, she got accepted into a top university in Beijing. My mother was very proud of her hard work. For the first month, the university was tough on her because she was still young. But, she kept working hard, and eventually, she was the top student in her class again. She decided to pursue medical science after she graduated and got a scholarship from Washington University in St. Louis because of her top percentile math grades. Her English grades were not as well, but she worked hard to get them to the top percent. My mother met my father, and they married each other. Then they had me, and we moved to Belmont, Ma from St. Louis. Today, education is very important to my family, and the honor has been passed down to me, and it is my responsibility now.

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While making my mug, there were not many challenges I faced. The only issue that I experienced through creating my mug was the handle. I was not quite sure what shape to make it and what it should look like, but I sort of let go and let myself create a handle that I liked.

I do think my piece was successful. Even though I believe that my final product was aesthetically pleasing, that is not what I believe is most important in success. I believe that the effort that you put into something is how to rate success. I worked very hard throughout the mug project. I smoothed out all of the creases to the best of my ability, I was creative, and I am proud of what I have created. I am most happy with the work I put into carving out the irish designs onto my mug. I was very careful with every scrape, and I think that it shows the work I put into it.

If I had to pick something to do differently next time, it would be to go even further with a creative shape. My mug was a bit curvy, and if I were to make another mug, I would continue to embrace the curve.

I have worked with clay before, at my old school, so there was not very much that surprised me. The only thing was the ability to fix the clay back into shape in the case that I poked a hole through with a tool. I was impressed with the clay’s durability.

I don’t think there was any more instructions needed. I really like the way that you gave instructions enough to make a mug, but not for everyone to make a uniform mug. The open ended directions left a lot of room for creativity, which I appreciate.

My mug describes me through its shape. I made the mug to have a gentle curve, and no hard edges. I feel as if that shows who I am because I have no hard edges either. I never get into arguments. The shapes I have engraved and painted onto my mug show a lot of curves, and very few sharp edges, very similar to my personality.

My great, great Grandpa came to America on a boat. He came from Ireland, and had a strong accent. My family does not know his original last name, but he changed it to Galle to get jobs more easily, due to a lower hiring rate for Irish people. All of his neighbors liked him, because on Saint Patrick’s Day, he dressed up like a leprechaun and threw candy. He always went all out. My entire family knows Adamnan (changed to Adam) Galle for throwing candy on saint patties day.

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My mug represents my Slovak heritage very well. I think the dots on my mug resemble the easter eggs that are a tradition in Czechoslovakia, which was one of the main things I wanted to include. Also, the flowers were supposed to represent the designs of traditional Slovak fabric, and I think they did. I think all of the colors on the mug also represent my dad’s side, which I did not intend to include, but I think the colors represent the fact that I am from a lot of other different parts of the world. I was very proud of my mug and I think that someone from Slovakia would be able to identify it as Slovak.

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Part II: Artist Statement

My mug represents me because the mug is creative. For example, the mug has many patterns based off my cultural heritage, as well as traditional patterns from my cultural heritage! The main pattern consists of red lines arranged to make diamond-like shapes. This is based off of traditional Swedish patterns. Part of my cultural heritage is Swedish, and this is so important to me because since most of my extended family is in Sweden, so my family has to remember our heritage in a place where not as many people are of Swedish heritage.

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My mug represents me because of the shape and color scheme, as well as the pattern. The shape is perfect for a cozy day in drinking hot chocolate, and the color scheme is made of my favorite colors, so it really represents my interests. The pattern is from my Austrian heritage, which is very important to me because it is where I come from.

My great grandmother was born in Kitzbuhl, Austria in 1888.  Her father made leather goods like suitcases and saddle bags.  After they moved to America he once made saddle bags for Teddy Roosevelt.  They went back and forth to New York and settled in Newark in 1902 when she was 14.  She had finished school by then and she went to work in the millinery department of the local department store.  She also acted in her church's Shakespeare productions and loved to play comedic heroines.  Around 1909, she noticed her future husband at church and started to walk outside his pharmacy on her lunch breaks until he noticed her and came out.  They married in 1911 and had their first of 4 children in 1913.  One of those children was my grandfather, Fredric Louis Feind Jr.. Katharine Kauffner Feind also lived to see 9 grandchildren.

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1. Both the mug’s intended purpose and the design represent me. To start, its purpose, to be a milk pourer for tea, represents me because my family in Scotland, mainly on my dad’s side, almost all drink tea. This is common among Englishmen and Scots alike, as some of my relatives are from England as well. The design represents me because the thistle, portrayed on the side of the mug, is the national flower of Scotland. It represents the nation of which my family is from and has been from for centuries. Therefor, it also represents me, as well.

Cape Town, 1974

A summer holiday in Cape Town does not often go in the same sentence with a sandy chicken. So be it.

My mum and with her two siblings and parents went on holiday in Cape Town, South Africa from Johannesburg. For a picnic on the beach, they had bought a chicken. My grandfather, her father, had picked up the chicken to cut it. Then came the dog (the detail of how large the dog was is always left out of this story). My mum, who was six at the time, was scared out of her wits. Her father moved suddenly to protect her and to shoo the dog. In the mix, the chicken was dropped in the sand. Though the chicken was deemed inedible by my mum and her siblings, it was still eaten, for they did not have enough money for a second chicken.

This story is often told in my family as an example of how the family got along while they still lived in South Africa, their financial situation at the time, and for the humour of life even through tough times.

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Artist Statement about your mug & family heritage.

Family heritage story.