When I contemplated how to engage the “foreigner” and “orphan” placemats by Catherine Reinhart, I imagined a table for a shared meal with loved ones and new friends, a concept I learned long ago from my dear friends the Henegars, who were like family to me, in Bloomington, Indiana. In their farm home, “a place at the table” was always the operating principle. On any given night, there would be family, my husband and myself, various friends who were working or visiting, and new visitors who came to Warren through his contacts with Bread for the World, foreign visitors, or local students and faculty.
Now that I have the time, I’ve continued that principle whenever possible. And, while a co-owner of the Gallery, I often celebrated handmade “art for the table” by our ceramists, wood, glass and textile artists. There’s nothing quite like sharing food, preferably potluck, with friends around a table with place settings using objects of shared meaning. So, it was natural to consider Catherine’s placemats in this context. Catherine is an emerging Iowa artist I met through the Surface Design Association.
Catherine tells us: To set a place is a new work made of two found placemats with the embroidered text of ‘the orphan’ and ‘the foreigner’. This socially engaged work will be displayed in galleries and will travel into people’s homes. This work’s intention is to reflect on what it means to be hospitable and what it looks like to set a place for ‘the other’. Included with this work is a notebook filled with prompts and the reflections of previous participants.
Once I placed them on the table, I realized there were new layers to consider. Looking at items to add to this table, I came across our family’s silver teapot, a wedding present to my great grandparents in the 1860s, then living in New York City. The family story is that the teapot is from Tiffany’s (although there is no makers’ mark) and that on all occasions, my great grandmother would be the caretaker of this teapot when it was used. A dry sink was in the drawing room, and she alone was allowed to “clean” up the pot by emptying the tea and simply rinsing it. One did not disturb the layer of tannin built up inside, which imparted flavor. This teapot then went to my grandparents back in Germany. And when they passed away, it went to my father, and then my daughter.
Although many household items were lost and our family was always of modest means, this teapot remained as a special object. In the context with Catherine’s “to set a place”, it represents the migrations of families who came for many reasons, once foreigners and immigrants in the United States, then returned to Europe, then back to the US once again. This teapot and other artifacts are reminders of a time when immigration was common and exciting, but also difficult and, at times, heartbreaking for those left behind.
Learn more about Catherine’s work on her website and her Instagram feed.
