This piece is a sketch for an autobiographical project using sculpture as a vehicle to explore and celebrate my family’s identity rooted in traditional Plain weaving techniques as well as juxtaposing transformative changes, connections and dysfunction of connections occurring with my family’s genetic disease progression. This sketch explores traditional Hispanic motifs, symbols, dying natural fibers and weaving techniques with contemporary techniques and processes that will be used to create a larger abstracted, non-traditional family tree wall tapestry. This contemporary project is inspired by my Hispanic ancestry and a recent diagnosis of an inherited disability, a rare genetic autosomal dominant disease known as Spinocerebellar Ataxia 5.  This form of ataxia was found in one branch of Abraham Lincoln’s family and I am Lincoln’s cousin 7 generations removed.