Oswald Home Laundry
By Susan Lenz
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary: It all starts with Linnie Rose Oswald. She was my Great-Grandmother, the eighth of Elnore Rose's nine children. (All but one were girls.) During the 1920s she operated her own business and posed for a photo beside the laundry's vehicle. Family stories tell of a feisty red-headed woman with a will of iron, a temper, and a very strong work ethic who drove down the middle of Huntington, West Virginia's city streets as if she owned them. In all likelihood, Linnie needed these qualities. Being a female business woman in this era had to be hard! She would have gotten the right to vote around then. Later, Linnie owned almost a block of town and rented apartments. I remember her from the days when managing her apartments was problematic. Linnie lived to be ninety-six years old but dementia took her years beforehand. I was in college when she died in a nursing home in Kentucky. The last time I saw her, she wasn't aware of the visit. Her mind was elsewhere ... talking about the clothes she was making and the quilts she would stitch. What a woman! Keywords: art quilt, textile, paint Artist Biography: Susan Lenz...
21st Century and Contemporary Susan Lenz Art
Paint, Found Objects, Mixed Media
