I had to.
For the last year I have entered pretty much every show the Textile Center has had except the basket making one ( for obvious reasons) and the Members only show, "Common Thread" (I felt I didn't have anything worthy ready). Before entering the " Nothing New" show, I had dabbled in using found objects but had not delved into them like this. The challenge was to use 50% recycled materials using fiber related materials for a mixed media composition. Of course it was a lot more challenging than I thought. Here is my entry.
I found this canvas at a thrift store and embellished it with 100% recycled materials. Egg cartons, cheesecloth, laminated paper left overs, grass cloth and many, many tea bags were used, just to name a few.
My greatest fear was that the juror would look at it and suspect I just hot glued a bunch of crap on to this canvas and turned in a form. I probably spent more time and effort into this piece than I have anything else in my career. Sadly, it was not selected. But all is not a loss. In experimenting and going through this process I have learned a great deal about recycled materials. So much in fact that I have put together a syllabus called "Manipulating Recycled Materials" and am teaching this class at two venues this Spring. Coincidentally one of them is the Textile Center! Full Circle, I tell you.
So you see why I had to post this. This art will probably never see the light of day except for the class demo. Take a good look because after today, it will collect dust in my studio for a long, long time 'cause I like it!
I found this canvas at a thrift store and embellished it with 100% recycled materials. Egg cartons, cheesecloth, laminated paper left overs, grass cloth and many, many tea bags were used, just to name a few.
My greatest fear was that the juror would look at it and suspect I just hot glued a bunch of crap on to this canvas and turned in a form. I probably spent more time and effort into this piece than I have anything else in my career. Sadly, it was not selected. But all is not a loss. In experimenting and going through this process I have learned a great deal about recycled materials. So much in fact that I have put together a syllabus called "Manipulating Recycled Materials" and am teaching this class at two venues this Spring. Coincidentally one of them is the Textile Center! Full Circle, I tell you.
So you see why I had to post this. This art will probably never see the light of day except for the class demo. Take a good look because after today, it will collect dust in my studio for a long, long time 'cause I like it!
