Face Jugs

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Face Jugs have a long history in the Southern US but nobody seems to know exactly their origins.  The most common stories are that they were invented as a way to warn children of the poisonous contents of the jars (be it arsenic or moonshine) or that they were meant to keep away evil spirits from the graves of family members.  Most believe the tradition began with slaves who worked pottery wheels for manufacturing goods and created face jugs for their own use.  One source even mentions that the face jugs may be an artistic coping technique, to deal with the harsh and oppressive conditions in which these people lived and worked.  The tradition of face jugs has continued to this day in many areas of the Southeast, especially in North Carolina and Georgia.
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How Art Made the World

How Art Made the World
pbs.org/howartmadetheworld

I discovered this show the other day while flipping through channels and I was so excited.  My DVR is now recording every episode.  Check out the website, watch some images, and set your DVR!

The few minutes I caught was about Egyptian obsession with orderliness in their art.  They found a grid that creates a standardized system of drawing the human figure so that their style of drawing people would be maintained for centures.  Why?  Well, I guess I will have to watch the whole episode (More Human Than Human, the title of which makes me think of the White Zombie song).

Found Object Art Month Ends...

Well, it's certainly been fun.  

Found Object Art Month has been a challenge for me as a blogger, artist, and art therapist.  I'm going to use this post to serve as the blog-equivalent of a clip show, remembering the good times...

I've featured a few interesting blogs with recycling in mind.

I've given you a few ideas for found object art projects.

I've shown you a few artists who use recycled or found objects in their work (and some where you can purchase their work on etsy!)

And I've updated you on the progress of one of my own found object art projects that I'm doing with clients at work.

Oh, and so much more...

Tomorrow is a big gallery show and creative arts celebration at work, where all of the found object art projects will be on display.  Unfortunately, I can't show you any pictures from that event due to confidentiality, BUT I can promise you, it is really going to be awesome.

And now I leave you with one of my favorite found object artists (or, rather, two of them, they work together): Tim Noble and Sue Webster.  They use light and shadow on found objects to create AMAZING work. 

Image found in this blog post over at web designer depot, which also has examples of even more found object artists!!



Coming soon: a 'zine about running Found Object Art Month at your art therapy site!

Extra cardboard, anyone?

Cardboard seems to be the junk art material of choice for many people.  It's easy to acquire, has many possibilities (melt it with water, peel back the layers, paint on it, layer it, can be strong enough for support of heavier objects, etc) and its color basically screams to be covered in something.  It's so cheap and easy that it's a relatively guilt-free material to experiment with.

When I saw this Cardboard Surfboard, I was intrigued.  The creator of this design posted directions and blue prints on this site so you can make your own and help improve it.

(image credit to linked article)

Not sure I would trust a cardboard surfboard but it is pretty interesting!

Earth Day art contest (last year)

I made this little weird montage of images from the website for the City of Cerritos' Earth Day art contest last January.  They have some images from past projects, including a Diet Coke can helicopter and the (pictured above) frog made out of green plastic bottles!  How fun!  Maybe I should re-introduce found object art month in April for Earth Day...

That's So Meta

(image credit to linked article)


I like to think of artists making art out of recycled objects while working inside their recycled subway car studios.

Bags made from Recycled Denim

These bags are amazing!!!




(Read the original post here)


OKAY, I love bags, I am going to give into that cliche. BUT. ALSO. These bags are made from recycled denim! Would you think that just looking at them? Probably not. At least, I wouldn't. I like the first one but maybe without the cat metal thing on it. But I love the fringes and it just looks so comfortable and slouchy, just the way I like my bags.

I found this post about 7 bags made from recycled denim and was so excited. But then I saw - wait - this is part of a recycled denim challenge? Where lots of people recycled denim into amazing things you wouldn't know were made from recycled fabric?

And the winner of this challenge was this hilariously awesome and relatively practical dining set:



(Read the post here)

Love! Love! Love! It makes me want to cut up my old (aka too small) jeans. Except I am a sad sight with the sewing machine. So instead I will just have hearts for this challenge and those beautiful recycled bags. Ahhh.

Recycled Scrap Paper Notebooks

(Photo credit: Design*Sponge)


Do you have:

- 8 ½” x 11” scrap paper (from faxes, printing mishaps and mail)
- binder clips
- scraps of cardboard or wood paint mixers
- elmers glue, pvc or a glue gun
- paint brush
- decorative scrap paper
- masking tape and/or decorative tape

Then check out this great tutorial for making your own awesome recycled scrap paper notebooks over at Design*Sponge!

I love this tutorial!! I am going to have to give this a shot, myself. I love making books, and this project seems pretty easy to do (and to tweak so I can put my own flare on it). I, like some of the other commenters, have lots of pads of paper and notebooks that aren't 100% used but I don't want to throw them away because maaaaybe some day I will use those last ten pages. Well, that day is coming soon, as in, I will rip them out of the notebook and combine them all into one awesome recycled notebook.

Yessss.....

Rethinking Trash into Inspired Art

Photo via Jaymi Heimbuch

Rethinking Trash into Inspired Art, a slideshow of images of beautiful art made out of recycled materials from Treehugger.com!

Sometimes when I tell people about junk art or found object art they mention how "green" it is to make art out of trash. I suppose it is "green." But, for me, junk gives so many more opportunities to be inspired - the objects have their own shapes and personalities right from the beginning! Working with junk encourages creativity and develops problem solving skills, I think. I'd like to do some research on it some day... but not today, no time no time!

Also, I mean, it's free. And in this economy, who can argue with free art supplies?

Dead or Alive

Photo credit: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Dead or Alive, at the Museum of Arts and Design, includes Kate MccGwire’s “Discharge,” made of feathers.

By KAREN ROSENBERG
Published: April 29, 2010

Combine some of the materials in “Dead or Alive” at the Museum of Arts and Design, and you’d have a potent witch’s brew. A single piece by Tessa Farmer, for instance, makes use of a ram skull, a mummified frog and bat, bladderwort, hedgehog spikes, weasel skulls, a spider web and sections of a wasp’s nest. (Another sinister-sounding substance, volcanic ash, delayed the piece’s installation; it will be up by Tuesday.)

...

And while the art is made of things that are no longer living, the show is certainly lively. Almost everything in it will arouse some kind of curiosity, whether material, scientific or historic. The 16th-century wunderkammer, it seems, is an excellent model for a 21st-century art and design museum.

Read the full article here: nytimes.com/2010/0...


This show is no longer up, but what an interesting concept! I only found out about it a few days before it closed so I unfortunately didn't end up going. It's not quite junk art in that it isn't man-made trash, but it is interesting making art out of things that were once alive...

Check out the museum's website (with pictures of the installation and artworks) here:
collections.madmuseum.org/...

10 Amazing Artists Using Recycled Materials

Check out this article from Huffington Post: Junk Art (PHOTOS): 10 Amazing Artists Using Recycled Materials.

(Image credit to linked article at huffingtonpost.com)

"Defining Home" directive

I'm on the prowl for some good magazine subscriptions. Even though I read a ton of blogs, having a physical magazine to read, cut out, and share is exciting. Before my trip to this past weekend I stopped into a bookstore and picked up a few magazines.

One of the magazines I picked up was the Somerset Apprentice, which has some great ideas for projects and descriptions of new techniques. How exciting!

This directive, "Defining Home," was taken from their autumn 2010 issue. I scanned in the images from the magazine, but full credit goes to them and the artist who submitted the project, Bethany Kartcher. Visit her blog at creativeruminations.blogspot.com!

This project is perfect for an art therapy group, especially during Found Object Art Month, which starts next Monday! Today I prepped some cardboard pieces for my group. I love this project because it combined book making (which I love) with a three dimensional element (which many of the clients love). It's kind of like Kramer's coffee table book about coffee tables, in that its form directly relates to its content. I hope it will be a hit.




I like what she wrote about how she came up with this piece:

"There is a definite spiritual component that is sometimes lost in the hustle-and-bustle of every day living. I created my Home Album to celebrate, and perhaps more importantly, define this intangible feeling." (p75)

Check out the Autumn 2010 issue of this magazine to see more pictures of her finished piece and to learn about the techniques that she used. I'll post pictures of my creations when they're finished!

Eee! I want this book.

I read about it in Book By Its Cover today, and now I really want it!  It sounds like a great book and good inspiration :)

U.S. Politics: Visual Communication

I read this short piece in GOOD magazine, a magazine not only about good design but good-for-the-world design. It's actually a pretty awesome magazine - at least the one issue I've read.

In issue # 006, Sept/Oct 2007, page 116, Ryan Bowman looks at the different presidential candidates' logos and analyzes them. Here is what he said about the three current contenders (I'm leaving out the others for now):



Barack Obama

Beautiful but empty. Tries hard to avoid the traditional vocabulary of political design btu ends up using the same familiar tropes - patriotic colors, red and white stripes, heavy handed Steinbeckian symbolism, and even a font named Perpetua.

Hillary Clinton

A ruthlessly efficient (and no doubt relentless focus-grouped) combination of the campaign logos of the past two presidents: The waving, stylized flag from that other Clinton and the one name simplicity from Bush, George W.

John McCain

So blatantly militaristic, the tagline might as well be "An Army of One."

I think it's really interesting how the logos describe the candidates, or at least the perception of the candidates. I really wonder sometimes how much people rely on visual cues like these in choosing not only who to vote for but what toothpaste to buy. I know that I prefer a specific acne medication because of its packaging - I am aware of the fact that before they changed the colors from dark blue and red and terribly chunky lettering to white with icy blue and light black lettering, I pretty much thought all of their products gave me acne. I, like many others (I assume), want to use medication for their pimples that comes out of a clean, crisp container, not brightly colored and obvious (um... like a pimple). At least I am aware of it, I guess.