House
We encounter the mottos far away in time and space from the women who made and originally displayed them.Here they are brought together by Webster in her personal collection, on display for the friends and family she invited to stay in her summer guest house, lovingly named the ‘Caribou Hilton.’ The theme of “home” is reasserted as a comfort to those who pass through the house, and a reminder of those who have come and gone. The presence of the mottos shapes the meaning of the place just as the place shapes the collection. Over time their narratives have become interwoven.
A collection is determined by the boundaries of its repository. In this way, the old house itself has become part of the logic of Webster’s collection, shedding the individuality of each needlepoint motto for a new narrative, that of the collection as a whole.
