A blog post, not in my life, until now…would I have thought to write one. And here I am, keyboard to fingertips, wine by my side and an empty sheet of cyber paper.
Since you are reading this and probably found this virgin blog on my website about our sculptures, or stumbled accidentally into a found art article vacuum by mistake, you officially are given a “Get Out of Jail Free’ card.
My passion in life has always been creativity in about every form. Particularly creativity on ‘the edge’. The edge is where the air is clean, clear, fresh and there are few restrictions or constraints. Like parts of Burning Man. Amazing food we moan about, visual morsels that tweak the imagination, music which makes us close our eyes and sigh, things that were not there before, now are and well….they’re amazing! Someone, somewhere created that. WOW!!!! Who?! What the??? How?!?!
In recent years my wife Esther & I have jumped into the deep end of the art pool and have found our niche’….found art. This relatively new art form has many names, ‘found art’, recycled art’, junk art’, the more formal ‘assemblage’, ‘re-purposed art’, cousin to Steampunk and many more. One thing I have found in common in this field of creation, are the raw materials generally come from objects that are found, have been used and then discarded or not needed anymore.
And let me tell you, some of the items that have found us are breathtaking. That’s right, found us. Somewhere in history, someone dreamed up a design, a function, a need. They got the funding to make it, found a manufacturer, created the schematics, possibly even patented it, built a marketing & distribution plan and viola’….a piece of someone’s creativity was born.
It can be a gear, a horn, metal that went somewhere deep in a machine, a doll’s head or foot, a toaster or oven grill, a fine wood handle, old hair dryer or a piano hammer. Billions of creations, designs, dreams, fortunes and losses all wrapped up in this single jewel that just found it’s way into my shop. My job now, my passion is to appreciate what is was, it’s perfection of design and function and then create it’s new function, purpose, form inside a piece of art.
All this new art is being created from old art which mostly was created as part of a function. In the beginning the ‘found item’ was an idea and now we are breathing life back into it.
Had enough yet? Time for me to jump off my soapbox? Ok, ok….hand over your Get Out of Jail card. Your free to go now.
But first! A simple word of fun advise… as you walk down the street, clean out your mother’s attic, attend yet another garage sale or flea market….look for the unusual item, because it is calling you. See me, take me, know me, make something with me. Soon you will be calling- ‘IT’s ALIVE, IT’s ALIVE!!!