jill poyourow

Oil on canvas, 75 x 50 inches

After my mom’s passing during Passover of 2019, I began work on this piece which was based upon a snapshot taken by my dad while the family was on vacation visiting my grandparents in 1973 in Milbridge, Maine, where they moved from NYC after their retirement.

My grandfather is loading the lobsters into the stockpot in the background. My grandmother is setting the table and my mom is sitting with chin in hand. Our family summer ritual, based upon a very non-kosher food, is also many people’s favorite celebration dinner.

It was her 83rd birthday on April 23, 2019 when she went out for a birthday celebration dinner during Passover, and consumed her favorite meal — and what would become her final meal — double lobster tails drenched in butter.

Oil on canvas, 75 x 50 inches

After my mom’s passing during Passover of 2019, I began work on this piece which was based upon a snapshot taken by my dad while the family was on vacation visiting my grandparents in 1973 in Milbridge, Maine, where they moved from NYC after their retirement.

My grandfather is loading the lobsters into the stockpot in the background. My grandmother is setting the table and my mom is sitting with chin in hand. Our family summer ritual, based upon a very non-kosher food, is also many people’s favorite celebration dinner.

It was her 83rd birthday on April 23, 2019 when she went out for a birthday celebration dinner during Passover, and consumed her favorite meal — and what would become her final meal — double lobster tails drenched in butter.

Oil on linen, oil on canvas, oil on vellum, flashe, gouache and oil on canvas, oil and ink on canvas, 40 x 55 inches

Dolly Momma (I Will Always Love You) is an installation mock-up in the tradition of assemblage. My working process involved a broken heart and deep grief after suddenly losing my mom. (We were extremely close.) The portrait elements of the work were completed just before the pandemic hit, in January of 2020. Over the following months of lockdown and rising death toll I added the flower studies from life, painted in my driveway during the summer months. My grief and pain were echoed by so many others who were not able to be with their loved ones or have closure around their passings. My mom’s portrait was painted from the 1953 Daily Argus newspaper mention (encased in plastic by my grandfather at the time) announcing her engagement to my father, a City College student.

oil, acrylic and gouache on canvas, 20 × 20 inches

Oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas, 20 x 20 inches

oil on linen, 8 x 10 inches