Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Potential of Ordinary Junk

I was watching the PBS series "Craft In America" the other day.  Metalsmith Kit Carson, who fashions intricately engraved jewelry and other metal items, also makes sculpture out of scrap metal.  One scene shows him in outside his studio, walking among what he estimates as 35 tons of scrap items he has collected over the years.  I did like the sculptures he created by welding old parts of bicycles, tractors, etc., but my favorite thing is Carson's name for what many others would call a junk heap.  He calls it "the library of visual solutions."


I've been saving lots of things--plastic bread bag closures, little green produce baskets, the purple rubber circles they put on my prescription bottles at the pharmacy to distinguish it from other peoples' in my household (completely unnecessary, because there's only two of us, but I was informed that they have to do it), wrapping paper from gifts, tic tac boxes, and the list goes on.  I have a whole box where specifically store "things that are round."  More than once these things have served as my own library of visual solutions.  I'm thankful for artists like Kit Carson who reinforce my belief that the best materials are often those closest at hand.
My "Capsules" are tiny



assemblage pieces of found materials.

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