What's with the keys?

poster board keys I made for the mock up scene

What's with the keys? I've seen them used in all kinds of artwork. Keys are mundane items, yet so significant in our lives. How many times has life seemed to stop until we've found our keys? How empowering it is to get a key, how exasperating to lose one. I tried to think of instances where keys are used in a negative light, but to no avail. Keys to St. Peter's gate in heaven, keys to knowledge, keys to power, keys to your heart. Can you think of something? The closest I came was unlocking Pandora's Box unleashing a myriad of woes. Then there's "keying" someone's car to leave horrible scratches in the paint - but that's not specific to purpose, only use of instrument at hand.

Keys are not usually the most striking of items, however they are instantly recognizable. They enable us to grant or deny access to that which we possess and safeguard. We recognize the difference and importance of the ones we hold, but they mean nothing to anyone else.

That occurred to my family as we collected all the keys that my brother had left when he died. We wondered what they were attached to, what meaning did they hold? Our shock at Fred's untimely death was compounded by confusion. We stared and sifted through the collection - it was just a big box of questions for us. How do we begin? Fred had lived a private life so there were few readily available answers. His estate was complicated and entangled in many ways. He had amassed a hoarder's wealth of possessions, property and relationships. Before we could even begin to explore what he had left us, we needed to figure out his keys. We anxiously tried to find proper matches, having faith that we would be able to unlock some mysteries. My aged father would fumble through them, unwittingly mixing them up again and again. It was as if he was conveying the idea that it all didn't make sense to him.

Keys will appear on top of the monuments that will be in this quilt. I started thinking of the quilt after visiting Mexican cemeteries, where visions of crosses were omnipresent. I don't want the religious, but I do want the symbolic. Although religious symbols also can convey similar feelings of security and safe passage. We instantly understand their significance, yet how they fit with our beliefs is a matter that can be private or shared with others. I feel very comfortable substituting one with another. There's the thought again about having faith and unlocking mysteries. The keys in this quilt carry a lot of private meaning, but they also have a universal symbolism.

The use of keys for this quilt was unquestionable for me. Modern or skeleton? They must be recognizable yet initially unremarkable just as keys naturally are. They must fit in the setting. I think this is "do-able" as they can be the same visual weight as the crosses.