NARRATIVE: Keturah Belknap traveled to Oregon by wagon train in 1848 with her husband George and thee-year-old son, Jessie. Her descriptive journal was my inspiration for a large body of art which is currently an exhibition traveling to three museums. In my work, I like to find the beauty in the fleeting moments of everyday life, and Keturah's words filled my imagination with images.

In the early spring of 1848, George trained his oxen to work together as a team in the yokes while Keturah spun linen fibers, which her mother-in-law wove into cloth. This heavyweight linen was then handsewn by Keturah into a cover for their wagon. The leftover linen was then made into clothing for her husband and son, to be worn in their new home in Oregon. Keturah describes in great detail how they loaded their wagon, including this passage about young Jessie who was observing his parents preparing for their great journey and, in his own way, already 'going to Oregon'.

April 9, 1848 Keturah Belknap Journal Entry: "...Now there is a vacant place clear across that will be large enough to set a chair; will set it with the back against the side of wagon bed; there I will ride. On the other side will be a vacancy where little Jessie can play. He has a few toys and some marbles and some sticks for whip stocks, some blocks for oxen and I tie a string on the stick and he uses my work basket for a covered wagon and plays 'going to Oregon.' He never seems to get tired or cross."