8x10” print of my MetroCard collage “Tools of the Trade.”
Extra heavyweight card stock, semigloss finish.

This collage is a part of an ongoing series depicting the history of my family in New York throughout the centuries.

And here is how the story goes:

My grandmother, Kitty Sheehan and her four sisters, Jo, Tessie, Mamie, & Lily, had in short order lost their mother and thrown out their abusive father. Now, having fled to Brooklyn, the four young girls (age 10-16) had to earn a living. So it was they ironed, swept, mopped, and sewed. My grandmother was the youngest. I don't know if she graduated high school, but she did stay in school long enough to leave with the most beautiful handwriting - a skill she maintained until her 90th year. I sometimes wonder if she had artistic ability she never had time to access (my father was an artist, too). My grandmother's beautiful handwriting led her to secretarial work. One day, answering an ad, she walked into an office at 1358 Broadway. Her future employer... one Samuel H. McKean. Here, rendered in MetroCards, are the five tools of the trade for the hard-working Sheehan girls.