Same sock different day

Perhaps a rather sad tale of a lost sock. The first photo taken on 23rd Sept 2014, the second taken one month later on 22nd October 2014. I guess it's quite unusual to see a found object in the same place over a period of time. I would of course usually pick up something that I liked, and if I didn't perhaps someone else would - most likely the litter picker. I don't normally collect socks or clothing so I left this object, but liked it enough to take the photo. It's on the part of a pavement where cars will often park up and so probably it has escaped the litter picker's eyes as well as the child / parent who dropped it.  What I find interesting is the way the sock has almost become part of the environment in which it sits. It has become one with the pavement (as much as it can). Small stones have imbedded themselves in it as if welcoming it in. The dirt has now camouflaged the sock with the colours of the ground. I wonder how long it will remain.

The 79.7% of the way through party

Unusually for a Private View the celebration of our exhibition Shed - Collect - Shed came 79.7% of the way through it's duration. This gave visitors an opportunity to look at some of the items that members of the public have collected over the last 8 weeks and a few extra works and items added since the opening day. It was a great evening and lovely to see so many familiar faces. Thanks to the Herbert Art Gallery and Arts Council England / Lottery funding for making it all possible.  

Workshops (Part 2)

A second Saturday of workshops (4th October 2014) produced more wonderful work by some incredibly inventive and creative children. Here's a few of the photos from the day  ...

 

 

 

Found Object Workshops

On Saturday 27th September I ran a day of drop-in workshops at The Herbert for anyone who wanted to take part. It was a great day of creative play using found oject photographs as the stimulus. The idea was to consider the objects more; to add worth and value to these discarded things; to allow them to spark creativity and imagination; to have fun.

There were 5 different activities people could take part in, here are some example pictures of what was produced:

1) Using a found object as a starting point for a drawing or picture. 

2) Creating a display case and showing objects inside.

3) Producing Found Object Top Trumps.

4) Making a story board narrative involving the objects.

5) Found object equations - considering the subjective value of an item.

It was a lot of fun and some really inventive work was produced. What struck me was the lack of fear that children have when they set out to create something. So often adults can be paralysed with a sense of worry or fear about messing up a drawing or not knowing how to start. And yet the children who took part weren't phased by drawing a dragon or whatever; they just went for it - and usually they turned out brilliantly. It's a good thing to learn from.

Voluntary Poetry

David Hurt, one of the many excellent and very necessary volunteers at The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum who have been looking after Shed - Collect - Shed, has written a number of poems inspired by the exhibition. Here's a couple:

The Artefacts Story (inspired by Shed-Collect-Shed: Coventry's Lost and Found)

Alive
With colour,
Waiting to inspire,
Passionately crafted
Into art.
Connecting their world
To ours,
Shedding their secrets.
Secrets once whispered
From beneath foliage,
By the roadside and
Teetering drains.
Their new refuge,
Gives them hope.

Trodden Rainbow Putty (inspired by the video projection piece "...and then I found..." (2014).

Flecked with spectrum rays,
Pulped by rushing feet,
Once a child's sculpture
Dropped in sudden fleet.

The collection continues...

Although the intensity of the collecting for Shed - Collect - Shed has reduced I'm still scanning the streets for the treasures it can yield. Here are my latest finds from the last weeks:

Going Round in Circles

When I first met Joanna Rucklidge 15 years ago I was inspired by her vision to collect and display bread tags - something that once seemed so 'nothingy' which I'd never given much notice to. Yet from that day on the humble bread tag took on a very different relevance and significance in my consciousness. Joanna continues to challege me to see the beauty and worth in things that even I can easily overlook and discard. For Shed - Collect - Shed she presents Going Round in Circles (2014) a set of 9 works including screen prints of objects such as rubber bands (previously pictured) and cup lids, and circular assemblages of plastic or metal bottle lids as if they were a set of rare antiquities. By so doing Joanna invests power and value into the most commonplace of the found object world. This is very much part of her ongoing fascination with environmental issues, waste and the disposable culture that we inhabit.

(Super, Un)natural history

Further areas of The Herbert's natural history collection was deliberately referenced in my work. I wanted to mimic some of the ways they displayed or catalogued their items. For My Found Knotted Crisp Packet Collection (2014) I used a fairly traditional looking green felt as a backdrop to pin the different packets onto as if they were a collection of butterflies or the like. The shape of the tied packets, their thin wrapper 'wings' and the bright colours evoked these creatures in my mind. 

Trophies (2014) (a found heron's head and a broken battery operated bat, each framed in gold spray-painted polystyrene packaging) recall the taxidermy found within the museum as well as the sorts of displays of creatures / heads that might be assossiated with this practice. There is a play on what was once considered a hunting trophy and my seeking out of found objects on the streets.

Mini Beasts (2014) similarly emulates the the sort of displays of insects and animals that could be found in the Herbert Museum. Real animals have been replaced by man-made versions found on the street. Within this array there are items that resemble life-forms although originally bore no reference to them- for instance a tag from perhaps some sort of garden packaging now looks like a flattened one-armed frog, and plastic remnants from something that was screwed in or drilled out appear more like a pair of octopii.

 

Stickers R Us!

The house is overrun with stickers! These make up the Found Object Sticker Packs produced to coincide with the Shed - Collect - Shed exhibition and will be on sale from the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum shop very soon (or directly through me - just get in touch). There will be 50 Limited Edition packs of the complete 50 designs (£20), and also sold individually (£1 each).  The clear vinyl stickers feature photographs of found objects from my collection, a number of which feature in the Shed - Collect - Shed exhibition.

To pick up or not to pick up?

People often ask why I pick up something and not another thing. I guess that's something I don't exactly know the answer to, but the decision I make in that moment of seeing something on the street and bothering to stoop down is obviously a crucial one. I'm very selective with what I pick up. This may depend on what mood I'm in, whether I am able to stop, how covered in mud that thing is... While I was in Cork recently with Martin Green, I found an interesting strip of rubber. I picked it up and as I was trying to get some of the mud off it (quite yucky) I dropped it. Where did it land? In a dog poo. So that's definitely where I draw the line. 

I am drawn to toys, plastics, colourful things, interesting shapes, objects which bear traces of peoples' lives - marked, worn, used. They may be tragic, comic, peculiar. It fascinates me when items have been changed by their environment - (perhaps flattened by cars or weather worn) and the objects become sculptural beyond their original designs. Another interest for me is to build up a collection of like items. Finding similar things and presenting them in a set or series brings a different meaning and 'weight' to them; they gain greater significance together.

These are disregarded things - lost or thrown away, seen as worthless. To pick these things up and present them within a new context and with a new value is a redemptive act. 

I am pleased to announce that the official Charity Shop Tour Shop postcard books are now in stock and available to buy! Only £5 per pack + p&p (20 postcards in a pack). Great mementos of the exhibition and perfect for Christmas, birthdays, bar mitzvahs and the like. These are a limited run of 200 so buy them now before they're gone.

The last hurrah! A great send off for the CSTS with a record number of visitors today (for one of my exhibitions at least!). Thanks to everyone who has been involved - particularly Dave Gray, Jamie Randall and Ben Rowe. Here's Kiss Blower (from Scope, Ormskirk) to offer a fond farewell. It's been fun!

Below are the commissioned works made for the Charity Shop Tour Shop exhibition. It was a pleasure to work with these artists and I couldn't be happier with the resulting pieces.
 
Dave Gray's 'The Iron Gundam' (2013) (an acrylic painting onto a found charity shop painting by J. Hughes and re-signed).

 “When the light's green, the trap is clean” and High Voltage Laser Ecto Protective Containment Unit (2013) - Ben Rowe's duo of superbly crafted MDF works inspired by Ghostbusters traps bought on the Tour.

Jamie Randall's beautifully playful jigsaw pieces (Untitled, 2013) made to fit the Charity Shop Tour bought Boat Puzzle with Missing Piece - bringing completeness and five new narratives to the original item.

 Jamie Randall's radiant stained glass light piece Red Eyed Lion (2013).

 

Some impromptu art works were made yesterday at the CSTS - which was great. There were no workshops running but that didn't stop my creative visitors! 
This drawing was by Mary Courtney:

This felt work by Karen Johnson:

And this drawing by Jacob Langlands:

Some impromptu art works made today by some of today's visitors and thought I would share them:

by Mary Courtney

by

By Jacob Langlands

A new view of some of the charity shop tour items on display...

The dancing Jar Jar Binks (next to Mickey Mouse) has been a surprise hit of the exhibition wowing children and adults alike!

Last of the CSTS workshops today. Here's what was made:

Today's art workshop offering. Thanks to everyone who took part.

 

A week and a half left of the CSTS and that means only 5 more days of being open.

I added a new piece of work just finished to mark the half way point of the show - it's a light box housing 8 hand-etched mirrors featuring some of the 'characters' bought on the Charity Shop Tour. There will be at least one more new work to mark the close of the exhibition too (it's on it's way!). 

Yesterday was the first art workshop at the Charity Shop Tour Shop. Some great work was made and will be put on display. Hama beads were a popular hit but also some scraper foils and a felt picture were made. Thanks to everyone who took part.