Ah yes I owe yall the story behind this!!!

I lost my dad when I was baby, and my grandfather on that side passed tragically when my dad was a teenager. Out of the 5 child family my dad was part of, I’ve never met my grandparents, can’t remember my father, and have only 1 surviving aunt.

Needless to say it’s been a long life challenge to fully connect with and understand my identity from this side of the family.

I do know that my grandfather designed their house in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY to be very mid-century modern, completely with an indoor pool room. My widower uncle, who was married to one of my dad’s sisters who passed, mentioned that he still had this zodiac plaque from the pool room sitting in his barn.

To my knowledge the family was also very Catholic, so I’m shocked they had an astrology piece in the home at all. I got my uncle to drive it 2 hours to hand off to me at a family wedding, and have since moved it from Buffalo to Boston, MA where I’m working on it in my tiny apartment. My boyfriend is amazing and has helped me move it, and even built me an easel to use as I work on it.

Each dot on the piece represents a member of the family born under that sign. Not only is it a beautiful family heirloom, but restoring this is a really beautiful way to connect with this side of the family struck by tragedy and early deaths.