I have been accused of being a pack rat. Sure there is a tad of truth to that description. But I should think that most mixed media artists know–collected materials for use “some day” could mean exactly that.
Many of the pieces that I had in a show last year had materials I saved for several years. For example, the pit fired cup was a demo piece from a teaching gig over 10 years ago. The metal bits I snagged when my brother-in-law was clearing out his warehouse of construction materials.
I wanted this cup to appear more goblet-like so I drilled a hole through the bottom to attach a carriage bolt for a stem. The stem has two types of washers that are filling in for the dots and dashes of Morse Code.
The stem has the word “mourning” in code. It is a play on the homophone “morning” as in morning cup of tea. The small bag inside the cup has poison plant bits–not material appropriate for a tea ceremony.
The wood for the sides of the next piece came from an old swing that I rescued from my parents’ burn pile. That was more years ago than I care to remember. The bronze bit on the rosary is a piece of a dried fig that was spin cast in the late 80s. I couldn’t find a home for it until this piece was made. The rosary has “Cleanse Your Palate” and “Forgive Yourself” in code.
The thing that was most fun about constructing this piece was how the cast soap cup came into existence. I made a slew of woven and fiber cups that I meant to cast in bronze. I never managed to get them gated and cast so they were stored away. When I ran across them I realized that I really didn’t want to cast them any longer. So, I made silicone molds for casting soap and sugar pieces.
Rarely do I first glimpse a material or object and know precisely how I will use it. Often materials make it known where they would like to live and with whom.
When I was sorting out the stuff in Dad’s barn, I collected materials to ship home. This is some of what I collected.
The metal drawers have been nicely oxidized from mice living in them.
So many possibilities…