The Potter Re-Potted
A Short History Of Personal Rearrangement
2021 // In Progress
In the early 1970s my grandmother wrote a short story about a class she was taking at the local community college for displaced housewives. They needed money and all the kids (my mother included) were old enough so she took this class to help prepare herself for the working world as a woman.
Like many women of the era, she struggled with the balance between the societal expectations and domestic role for women and the need for a deeper intellectual fulfillment.
Elinor is a two part publication about my grandmother, Elinor Coates. She was born in 1936 in Chattanooga Tennessee. In the 70s she wrote several short stories and poems as self reflections about her life. Part one is an exploration into my relationship with my grandmother through images, artifacts and her writing. Elinor is my mother’s mother, also named Elinor, and therefore this also an exploration into my relationship with my mother. Part two is my grandmother’s short story The Potter Re-Potted: A Short History Of Personal Rearrangement finally published in honor of her and as a window into the time.
Part One
The Potter Re-Potted: A Short History of Personal Rearrangement
Fulfilling my grandmother’s dream of publishing her writing
Part Two
Elinor’s
A visual collection of family photos and artifacts.
