Memories are usually made up of actions. We have all said, "I remember when,” and then rattled off some story. Memories of things are a bit different--it's all in the details. People remember features of things, colors, the red bike with the broken pedal, shapes, the kidney-shaped swimming pool, textures, the roughness of the dog’s tongue. These details are stored away and are later used as triggers to recall events. Notions about the objects themselves are often obscured by the memory of actions. Keepsakes and photographs are often used as mementos to provide additional details that return us even more vividly to past settings. They help us with our fragmented and sketchy memories of the facts.

The memory of things can provide the starting point for a drawing. The way skin folds as an arm bends, a snatch of sky pressing forward between branches, a thumb held out at arm’s length looking as tall as a skyscraper. By using the memory of details, not to remember past events, but to generate new experiences, an artist hopes to create completely new memories. These new creations can help the mind return to places it has never gone before.