Appalachia is a special place to me. I grew up here and I plan on staying in the area for my whole life. It  has influenced my life greatly including my beliefs. My artwork is a display of symbols of superstitions that were very prominent in my life. Growing up in Appalachia, my mom, my mamaw, and even myself have given power to a set of beliefs that many would brush off as pure coincidence.  Many people would consider a bird in their chimney to be a small nuisance or annoyance, but in my family’s set of beliefs a bird in the chimney is a sign that a family member while pass away soon. A black cat is a sign of bad luck in many cultures, but every time one crossed the road my mom would make us all spit in our hands and rub it in our hair in order to keep anything bad from happening.  A weeping willow tree was always such a beautiful tree to me until my mom told me if a house had one in front that died then the owner of the house would also die. The hoot owl was a bringer of death and bad luck to anyone who saw it. These are all things that were made prevalent to me and through this series I have explored those beliefs in showing the power that a simple belief could hold. In addition to using Appalachian symbols of bad luck, I also wanted to marry the idea of new and old ideas by using both digital media and traditional craft method cross stitching.