A round 476,000 years ago, one of humanity’s ancient ancestors took two pieces of large-fruited bushwillow log, cut a notch into one of them, and secured the other into the notch to form a part of what is theorized to have been a more intricate wooden platform. That log is what inspired Nahant’s art teacher, Laura Petrovich-Cheney.
The log was excavated in 2019 at a site in Kalambo Falls, Zambia; the “Kalambo structure” is evidence that transforming wood is a practice humans have always taken part. It’s this intrinsically human instinct that makes the mesmerizing patterns of Petrovich-Cheney’s “wood quilts” uniquely simple to connect with. Scraps of wood, once forgotten by nature and man alike, are given a new purpose by the lifelong quilter, combining the historical tradition of American women sewing patchworks with the ancient capacity to recast wood.
“I love when people realize that the wood is recycled and they can find some kind of identifying mark to it, like maybe where the hole for the dresser handle was, or they could see how it might have been a piece of trim in the house, a window frame or something,” Petrovich-Cheney said. “They realize that it’s been given a second life, a second chance, and that opportunity for a second chance for a new usage is such an important message, not only with how to recycle, reuse, reclaim, but even in our own experiences. To be given a second chance at another job or a second chance with new opportunities to reinvent is so important in our human existence.”
Originally from New Jersey,
Petrovich-Cheney majored in English and fine arts at Dickinson College and then obtained her Master’s Degree in fashion design at Drexel University. For eight years, she worked as a fashion designer for a maternity company in Philadelphia, picking up the sewing and quilting expertise that would come back in a different way years later.
Personal issues led her back home to New Jersey, where she eventually switched from fashion to teaching in her mid-30s. For 20 years, Petrovich-Cheney taught art in Lakewood, New Jersey, obtaining her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) to open up more teaching opportunities. She was also driven by the desire to express ideas that were cropping up during her teaching career.
“I’ve given all these great opportunities to my students, but I also wanted to express what I was thinking and feeling through art,” Petrovich-Cheney said. “So, I went to Moore College of Art for two years and got my MFA when I was in my mid-40s. Sometime during that time, I started woodworking and sculpting, and I really liked that.”
Then, in 2012, the devastation of thousands of neighborhoods in New Jersey and New York from Hurricane Sandy, including Petrovich-Cheney’s, turned countless households into rubble and scattered debris. Petrovich-Cheney, who had already been collecting found wood-like branches, salvaged as much wooden material as she could find.
Soon, pieces of kitchen cabinets, cedar siding, two-by-fours, and dressers, almost certainly destined for a landfill, were given new life by her wooden quilting. Remarkably, all of the pieces have their original colors based on how Petrovich-Cheney found them, as she never uses paints on her quilts.
Thus, within the harmonious patterning remain the blemishes and quirks that tell fragments of a larger story. In her artist statement for the Hurricane Sandy Quilts, Petrovich-Cheney remarks, “These remnants hold traces of place and time — of home and neighborhood, of life before and after.” Resonating through the material are crucial reminders of the human experience, like the unfathomable power of nature or the impossible pursuit for order in an uncontrollable world.
During her creative process,
Petrovich-Cheney always takes inspiration from a myriad of sources, ranging from abstract art to the Fibonacci sequence. Perhaps the foremost inspiration for her work, however, is the tradition of quilting that has been passed down for centuries.
“I’ve been sewing quilts since I was 17, and I just love how, even though quilts are sewn all over the world, for me, I associate them with American women and sewing and the long history of that,” she said. “And I love how it is sort of a woman’s thing, weaving and sewing and embroidery, and then the woodworking is very masculine, and I love that combination of folks.”
Petrovich-Cheney has also become acutely aware of the stresses that come with both the medium of weaving and woodworking.
“What I think about making it is, ‘Oh my God, please let this fit. I measured this three times, so please let this fit. Does the color match? Do I need to sand it more? Is there enough going on interest-wise that when you come into the work, do you stay there, and are there enough textures here?’” she said.
As an art teacher at Johnson Elementary School, finding out what inspires artistic expression is something Petrovich-Cheney takes with her into the classroom, encouraging her students to take part in artistic behaviors rather than devising strict lesson plans.
“I’ve opened it up more to, ‘This is the artist we’re going to study.’ Last week, we studied Alma Thomas, who is the first African-American woman to have a solo show with the Whitney, and I introduced them to her work, which is Geometry and Paint Squares, based on nature and music,” Petrovich-Cheny said. “I gave the students paint and said, ‘Okay, tell me what inspires you; what did you learn from Alma Thomas that sparked your creativity and curiosity.’”
Of course, she still teaches her students the foundations of art. But after 18 years of teaching, she’s found that having an open lesson where the kids can explore their own creativity is refreshing for their brains and provides them with more enjoyment than a classroom with a more inflexible environment.
For the statewide Youth Art Month in March, Cheney has organized with the Nahant Public Library to display her students’ works of art. This opportunity offers young artists the quintessential experience of sharing one’s creativity with the world, knowing the excitement that someone else might take some joy from the art.
“I love it when I present them a project and say, ‘What are your ideas on this? How do you see the world? Tell me what you’re thinking. Tell me what you’re seeing,’” Petrovich-Cheney said. “It’s so good for them to find self-expression. They’re very curious and open. And they have a lot to share. They have a lot to say about the world that they live in.”
