ABUSED but REUSED: the story of three industrial seed pods rescued from a life of abuse and neglect

As far as I'm concerned,  there's not a better time to be had than spending a couple of hours at a junk yard with friends.   If you're lucky you may even walk away with some treasures tucked under your arm!   Awhile back, my friends, Sayaka and Momoko, asked me if I would like to join them on a trip to a little junk yard a few miles south of Bowling Green.  Of course I said YES, how could I pass up an offer to visit a new junk yard!  At first it wasn't much different than most of the junk yards I had been too, the old saying "if you've seen one you've seen them all" came to mind.   That is until I came across these neglected little gems strewn across the cold wet ground.   It was love at first sight, who knew junk could be so beautiful!  In this case, one man's trash was my treasure. 
The man at the junk yard informed us that they were grinders used for grinding rock and dirt.   When the little "finger nubs" wore down, or fell out, the heads were replaced with new ones.  He said we could have them for free if we wanted them, who was I to argue!  I quickly gathered them up in my arms and off we went.   It's amazing, and ironic actually, how organic and seed poddish they look seeing as how they were used to grind and crush rocks and plants and dare I say maybe even a stray seed pod unfortunate enough to have landed in their path.  Anyway, on the way home I mentioned how cool they would look if I placed marbles in the empty holes where the "nubs" had fallen out.   When I got home that's exactly what i did and sure enough they did look cool!                        

My pennies have a new home!

Yet another reason the Maumee Antique Store ROCKS!   How could anyone pass up this AWESOME "Henny Penny Bank"?!  I don't collect banks or even own one actually,  well not until now anyway;  but I just couldn't pass this one up!  It has a great folk art feel to it; I love the simplicity of it.   It's basically an upside down bowl form with a "pinched" piece of clay for the comb and a little beak and two little holes drilled in it for eyes.   I bet my friend Jess Benjamin will be jealous; she's a great ceramic artist out in Omaha, Nebraska.   Eat your heart out Jess!!  Now I don't have a choice, I'll have to save my pennies, see I knew there was a reason I bought this!

foundry molds

This past Sunday I decided to go hunting at one of my favorite places,  the Maumee Antique Store.  I was in search of  Unique Objects of Interest (UOI's for short) It turned out to be a very good hunting day indeed!  Check out these COOL antique wooden foundry molds!!  They're like little modernist works of art.   Best of all they were dirt cheap, I don't think the owner realized how much they were worth.  I did some checking around; I got a very good deal! The biggest one was only $10 and the others ranged between $4 and $6!  The big one is a hat mold used to form and shape hats.  The red and black engine block looking one was probably used as a mold for sand casting.   I'm not sure about the smaller red and black one.   The two narrow ones are a pair, male and female, they nest up against each other;  they look like molds of some sort for an old desk drawer handle.  I love all the markings on them,  it shows they were used.   My favorite, out of all of them, is the small rectangular box mold.  It has such a rich brown patina and an ancient hand carved feel to it.   I threw in some wishbones I had lying around (believe it or not I do have wishbones lying around...hmmm imagine that)  the contrast of the white bones against the rich brown luster of the wood told me they were meant for each other.     It was a very successful hunt, I bagged some great trophies and I even found some cool art books to boot,  what more could I have asked for?!!

Art at the bottom of my bowl

YOU CAN DO IT TOO! all you need is a cereal bowl, any color will do,  preferably a darker color so you can see it; some yogurt, and a spoon.  First you add the yogurt to the bowl,  I like to add grapes to mine but plain yogurt will do just fine; than you proceed to eat the yogurt until there's nothing left except swirled spoon trails of yogurt residue.  There you have it, your very own yogurt painting!!   Good Luck!

Me, Myself and I

Have you ever stood in front of a mirror and had a stare down with yourself?  I mean some serious staring, you have to really look into your eyes.  After a while of doing this you begin to feel yourself pulling away from the person in the mirror,  you even begin to question who that person is staring back at you, it can be sort of disconcerting.   If you haven't tried it you really must!  I decided to take it a step further and add another mirror.    Now when I look at this picture I feel like a voyeur watching me locked in a three way stare down with myself.  

agrarian cathedral

Old barns are great story tellers, they have the power to transport you to another time and place if you take the time to listen.   The stories this barn could tell would surely win the pulitzer prize for literature!   As soon as I squeezed through the giant doors and stepped inside I knew I was in the presence of greatness.   It was the same powerful feeling I felt the first time I entered the Duomo in Florence, Italy.   This Cathedral is a little closer to home, near Bloomsburg, PA at the home of my friends Greg and Meg Mueller.

morning on the maumee

My friend Sayaka was visiting for the weekend so we decided to take our morning coffee with us and walk a block from my apartment down to the beautiful Maumee River.  The water was silky smooth, the air was crisp, the seagulls were singing and all around us tiny fish were jumping.   It was the perfect early morning coffee sipping with a friend moment.    

farm art 2

summer storm coming

I took these photo's from my car on the road to my parents farm.   The clouds look beautifully menacing don't they?!

Stewed Poem

It's always fun to find something that you did in the past and than look at it with fresh eyes. That being said... I was doing some "cleaning" on my computer, transferring old files and pictures to my new computer, when I came across an old poem that I had written in school.   After reading through it a couple of times, I made some changes.   I moved a few words, threw out some words and then added some words.   Sometimes it's good to let things stew for awhile and then dip your finger in and sample it and maybe add some more ingredients until the taste is just right.   Right now I think this poem is ready to serve.   I hope you enjoy it!

PICK-a-POEM

Should I make it sing in rhythmic time

or keep it simple with a playful rhyme?

Maybe It should flow clear and clean

or slow........ with pauses in-between;

should I aim to please or to ignite?

No--- I don't want to start a fight

I could expatiate with my nose in the air

or would that be too arrogant and unfair?

I suppose it could be witty, or even funny,

or for that matter sad or sunny

Then there are meter's and stanza's and iambic pentameters

all fighting to fit within its perimeter's

I'm beginning to feel like my head is full of birds

flying around, each one a different word

If I had it my way, poems would grow on trees

and I would simply pluck one off as i please.

Sneak Peek

This is a new piece I'm working on. I have it hanging on my bedroom wall at the moment. It's only a partial piece so far, when it's finished there will be many more racks. So far I like the look of it, I'm loving the shadows! It's working conceptually and aesthetically for me. Of course I'll ANALize it some more just to make sure but I'm digging it so far! If you're wondering what the hell it's made of, the red rack is a commercial retail hook rack... you know the kind you see with cheap crap hanging from them. The little yellow "tags" are livestock ear tags used to keep track of livestock. They're basically animal ear rings. I'll post the final pics when it's finished.

Deer!

I was in my car when I spotted this deer, luckly I had my camera with me. Only later, after I looked at it closer, did I realize how cool it was. Just follow the arrow!

Farm Art and Daisy

Farm Animals

Farm Flowers

IN CASE I WASN'T HEARD: part 2

This is a sculpture that I built my senior year at BGSU; I called it "In Case I Wasn't Heard". It's a megaphone cannon and yes it works quite well! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish it in time for my BFA show. Nevertheless, I took it to a photographer and had it photographed inside his studio. Technically, they were great photo's but the piece just didn't feel right in a studio environment, it wasn't working conceptually. Fast forward to this past weekend... I was at my brother's farm, it was one of those sunny summer days, the sky was bright blue and full of fluffy marshmallow clouds. Mark mentioned that I should take some pictures of my cannon; I had brought my camera and tripod along so I figured why not. So after taking pictures all day I came home and starting working on them. I was pleased at how well they turned out. The pictures brought this piece to a whole new level. The clouds were perfect; they look very menacing, especially in the pictures where I'm pushing the cannon. It looks like I am heading to war! In the ones where the cannon is all alone, there is a real sense of loneliness, of searching, of waiting for a response of some sort. Taking these pictures out at the farm helped me learn something about my work. The object, in this case the cannon, became a "prop" in these pictures, it was no longer a precious object, it became nothing more than a set prop for the story. I think the cannon could still stand on its own as an object but it took the right environment for it to work conceptually.