10DCAC,  Art Journals

Day 9: Where I Call Home

What state do you call home? Do you remember the symbols from your school days; state bird, state flag, state flower? Is your state famous for something? Is there a rivalry with another state? How do people feel about it?

Many of the prompts I create for my work come from inspiration while shopping and poking around all kinds of stores. I don’t often buy anything, but I like to search for that perfect treasure for someone. Today’s prompt came when I discovered a bag of pre-cut US state shapes in a craft store. They were tiny, less than an inch long for the average state. They made me think of how we identify with the state we live in.

If we are where we’ve lived then I’m Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. That’s really not a huge number of states for one lifetime so far.

At this point I’ve lived in North Carolina the longest, so I chose it for this prompt. Things that came to mind are “Murphy to Manteo,” cardinals (our state bird), The Tar Heel State, and dogwood for the state flower. College basketball reigns supreme and we are proud that we have mountains and beaches in NC.

Where do you call home? What does it look like to you?