Bundles

I participate in a local group called St. Louis Collage Club. We take turns leading projects and doing demos; we make things for charitable organizations; we share techniques; we shop (!); we eat; we have fun. At our August meeting, one of our members organized a Bundle project based on the DISCO collaboration that Seth Apter did.

Like Seth, I am fascinated by natural destructive processes. I don't know what that says about me, ha! All I know is that it propelled me to search out a beach in Hawaii where metal objects from a dump have landed on the beach due to erosion of the land. The combination of salt water with junked objects attracted me like a bee to honey and I filled roll after roll of film (this was years ago) with photos. Oh how I have this strong desire to search thru my boxes to find those photos, oy but I digress.

And then the fire - in 2002, when we lived in San Francisco - a warehouse next to The Cannery caught fire and, living just a mile from there, we heard sirens for hours and hours. The next morning I walked down to see what had happened and once again, took tons of pictures. A horrific event (thankfully no one was hurt) that seemed beautiful to me - a gutted building, charred timber, blown out windows - oh my oh my, the compositions fueled one of my very first abstract series.

And I adore the work of a local artist Patricia Vivod. She works on fabric using rust, natural elements, and composting to achieve unbelievable earthy depth in her pieces. I remember my introduction to her work; I stood spellbound by her process and statement. The works were so incredibly evocative to me.

So the Bundles were definitely my kind of project. I grabbed some random stuff out of my studio - painted paper towel debris, corrugated stuffing that happened to be on the floor, a ball of old fabric strips, some paste painted paper scraps, stuff from the garbage. Wrapping them was a spontaneous process and I worked fast and furious completing the three bundles shown in about an hour. My friend Caroline had some used/wet tea bags and I jammed one into the center of two bundles.

They are now hanging from our Japanese Maple and I confess to being a wee bit mesmerized by them. I think you can click on the picture to enlarge if you want to see them close up. I feel this crazy connection as though they are children or something. And I can't wait to see what happens. I will keep you all informed.

Thanks Seth for the brilliant inspiration!!