16.3.09





Raw Materials

I was just reading about hoarders. Current thinking seems to point to the idea that hoarders aren't really run-of-the-mill garden variety compulsive obsessives. I'm happy to know this as I'm always finding orphaned, "useful" items to haul to the studio. Supposedly, hoarders think in more complex ways, seeing a myriad of possibilities in items that others might simply see as trash. Most of the artists I know tend to keep all manner of "useful" things. Stuff that might one day find its way into a piece of artwork, or stuff that could be handy for corralling the other accoutrements of studio life. Like shoe boxes and jars. I'm particularly fond of those. Sara—123oleary—recently sent me to a lovely blog by Sharon Mount titled Tiny Buildings. For the past 30 + years, Sharon and her family have been constructing tiny fantasies crafted from business cards, packaging, card stock and other materials. Sharon has even initiated a Flickr group for folks who are attempting to construct their own tiny buildings. Here are a couple of Sharon's buildings.
My favourite is the stripey one. One person's trash...