Green Friday: Artists and their Environment

Today's blog is a part of a Green Friday Synchronized blogging event. Check out the other bloggers linked at the bottom of this post who are also exploring the topic of Art and Environmental issues.
Many of you may already know I am in the middle of an 8 week bookmaking course at Penland School of Crafts in Western North Carolina. The studio coordinator for this books class, Emily Barrows, was willing to sit down with me today and tell me a bit about an art project she has been working on where she lived with all of her trash for 6 months.

Here is the interview:
Jean: So could you start off by telling me what your project is about?
Emily: It originated from my need to purchase a computer. I struggle a lot with buying and consuming things in general but for some reason things that you plug in have become even more disturbing to me. Alarm clocks, coffeemakers, anything you plug in has such a short lifespan. Computers are especially scary because they have semi-precious metals in them. The things that go into making a computer are so epic but it's this really slim laptop and looks really sleek and beautiful but the amount of chaos and disorder that arose to just give me this little pile of order is overwhelming. So I guess that almost as punishment I decided I will live with my trash for six months. Anything that I would otherwise throw away, anything that can't be composted or recycled or that I would normally flush, I had to actually keep in my bedroom with me. I decided that this would be an interesting project because I would journal about how this was affecting me and my relationship with trash. I still plan to combine this into a personal narrative and critical essays which will be bound into books made out of the trash from that time period.
Jean: What did you do with your trash?

Emily: Originally I thought, okay, I'm just going to keep my trash but then I started to compartmentalize the trash in my room . I would have takeout boxes in one pile, cellophane in another pile, and dental floss in another. The actual act of sorting was keeping it from being trash anymore. Taking what is trash and trying to project another identity on it, even simply by compartmentalizing it, keeps it from actually being trash. I was going out to a lot of junk yards at that time just to look at stuff. I lived in Atlanta at the time and there are acres and acres of junkyards like a moat around the city. It's then that I realized they do the same thing: there will be miles and miles of one kind of thing like just tires. I realized it doesn't become trash until it becomes that icky stuff that you don't want to touch and you can't distinguish one item from the next...dumpster juicy trash, that's trash.

So as I continued to compartmentalize my trash, I became really compulsive about not producing any trash because I didn't want it in the room and certain types of trash are stinky so I really tried to manage the stuff I was producing. When the 6 months was over, the stuff that I would use to bind into my book I saved and the rest of it ....I ceremoniously put into the trash...so it is gone.
Jean: Do you have any samples of that trash here with you now?
Emily: I did start to make two book covers. One book cover is made out of q-tips and dentalfloss and the other is made out of hair trimmings. I hope to literally print the narrative and critical essays directly onto the trash that I have collected and combine the trash with the paper. A lot of paper isn't recyclable.
Jean: So what have you learned so far?
Emily: It definitely has affected the way that I think and the way that I look at trash. I would go out to restaurants and would have to put the napkin and straw in my pocket. If there was a lemon wedge in my water, I'd have to take it home and compost it. If I didn't finish my meal, I'd have to take it home, which meant that I had to get a to-go box. Whenever I walked into an establishment, I had to walk out with just the product in my hand and that is so difficult, you know? I would watch the amount of trash generated by just dining out. It really made me neurotic and strange! I won't lie about it. [laughing]
Jean: Do you make different kinds of artwork now?
Emily: I do. It has profoundly impacted the way that I make art. My art has become a lot more visceral and a lot more trash-y. I like to to deal with dirty gross things now. I'm infatuated with it and I'm not ashamed of it. Not much of my art is pretty anymore. Even if it isn't a found object or doesn't incorporate found objects, it appears as though it does. I have a much more intimate relationship with things that have been handled and touched or abused or whatever. I feel like that has a lot more power as an object to me now than the clean and the smooth and "finished."
Jean: How has your view of the environment changed? Or has it changed?
Emily: I don't think it has. I think when I approached the project I was already overwhelmed by how epic the state of our consumerism is. I wasn't even approaching it from an environmental standpoint but more about my relationship to other people. That's particularly what I'm ashamed of. My little study of the amount of trash that I generated confirmed what I already suspected which is that there's a lot [of trash]. The fervor with which we produce...I mean the entire contents of a CVS store are made to be thrown away, including the store itself. It's such a large scale that I don't think my project put a kind of perspective on it because you can't. It's just too huge. It didn't change the way that I see the environment. Ultimately, it didn't even change my consuming habits. I've found since then, in the name of convenience and surviving like a normal person in our society, if I'm really hungry, I will go buy a bagel even if it means it comes in a bag. Whereas before I wouldn't have done that just out of fear of having to sleep with it that night!
Jean: So what will you be doing with this project now?
Emily: I plan to make an edition of probably only about 10 books [made out of the collected trash.]

Here are the beginning of the book covers made out of some of her saved trash.



Because one cover has hair sculpted into the shape of shrimp, you can e-mail Emily at hairshrimp@gmail.com to inquire further about her work.
Thanks for sharing, Emily!
Here are what other people are saying on Green Friday:

The Art Teacher's Guide to the Internet w/Craig Rolandhttp://www.artjunction.org/

Blissful Thoughts w/Chan Blisshttp://blissthink.blogspot.comchan.bliss@sdhc.k12.fl.us

The Carrot Revolution w/David Granhttp://carrotrevolution.blogspot.com/
Learning IT w/Frank Curkovichttp://frankcurkovic.edublogs.org/
The Teaching Palette w/Theresa McGee + Hillary Andrlikhttp://theteachingpalette.com/

Doodling Tuesdays in a book again!

Seeing how I am taking this bookworks class, it should be no surprise that my doodles are being presented in book form.

Biltmore Built More!

Due to a serious case of cabin fever in the secluded mountains of Western North Carolina, I decided to make a day trip this weekend to the famous Vanderbilt monstrosity called the Biltmore Estate. Before reaching my destination though, I found the polka dot car making more noise than it should. As I wound down steep mountains in the fog and rain, I thankfully sputtered to a random roadside mechanic.

Before I knew it, I was back on the road and on my way to the largest private residence in the country with over 250 rooms full of fancy art stuff and decadence unheard of in the 1890s. Biltmore built more! Get it?

Seasonal Developments from NC!

Each day is a little different here on the mountain.
Here are some developments of a bookwork in progress. I'm using handwritten words from my own journals and notes in addition to letters from others to create this piece.

Doodling Tuesdays in an Artist Book

This doodle comes from sunny North Carolina once again!
Each page is a progressive drawing on canvas that addresses cycles. A theme of late:

Adjusting to the cycle...

I am adjusting to the many cycles and routines here at "Art camp." Here is a shot from the studio where I having been piecing together canvas swatches into something that might look like book.
Because my cloth pages need a nice edge, I have become aquainted with the amazing abilities of a serger (a special kind of sewing machine but only, well, more amazing...and definitely more expensive.) I have officially put
"Serger" on my Christmas wish list. (wink wink)


I went to town today to do laundry and did something I've always wanted to do:
get inside the spin cycle.

Week 2: More "books" and a Tuesday Doodle!

This tuesday doodle comes inside a book which is inside my hair which is sometimes wrapped around my wrist. The "book" has gessod pieces of canvas that I can take with me and make "art on the go."


I can't seem to get this book out of my head. And no, it is NOT a glorified scrunchie.
More work and stories to come from North Carolina soon!

Exploring the grounds/Doodling Tuesdays

Because it is Doodling Tuesdays, here is a minimalist doodle that will be bound into a book in some way in my bookmaking course.


I'm still catching up on sleep and settling in but I had enough energy to do a cartwheel in the meadow and take some pictures of a few spots around the grounds here at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.

First 24 Hours at Penland

Greetings from beautiful North Carolina!
I finally made it in one piece to Penland School of Crafts and have processed more in the past 24 hours than I thought possible. I drove my polka-dot car ("Polkie")to Bloomington, Indiana (my first visit ever!) on Thursday and visited my old friend from high school, Louise. I got some coffee and a taste of undergraduate life for a brief nostalgic moment at Indiana University before hitting the road early Friday morning. Polkie held up all the way through to the last winding incline. Friday's drive wound through Kentucky, Tennessee, and finally to the middle of nowhere in Western North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Total hours alone in the car: 13.
I arrived before dark and met a few other work-study students who had arrived and were relaxing around a table on the porch of the dining hall. I sipped my tea and looked out at the mountains in front of me. It was then that it occured to me: I'm either in heaven or rehab.
I am utterly exhausted tonight, Saturday, after a full day of cleaning and preparing for classes to start this coming week. So far at "art camp" I've met lots of new people and am learning the ropes of washing industrial sized dishes in the middle of nowhere.
I am unpacking little by little but one of the first things I took out were my soul collage cards. They are arranged around my little nook to remind me..."I am the one who has come from somewhere and is going to new places..."
More to come soon!

Top Post of 2008: Resurrection Mary!

I feel it is fitting to post the last and final post from the top ten ranked posts of 2008 on the day that I depart Chicago and drive to North Carolina. For the past few days, I've been dividing my clothes into "fit to take to North Carolina" or "fit to give away." There were a few items that didn't fit into either category: the famous dress worn for the Resurrection Mary photoshoot and the feature for the month of October of my Famous Chicago Graves Calendar. There she remains in my closet.
Here is the copied post below. The "Unsolved Mysteries" youtube clip is no longer available due to copyright issues so I've scrounged up another equally fun clip from the vast archives of Rez Mary Madness!

As part of my calendar shots for 2009, I headed down with my friend, Mary, to Resurrection Cemetery on S. Archer Ave, a stretch of road that hosts Chicago's most famous ghost: Resurrection Mary. This is the one shot that does not feature an exclusive grave as there is controversy over which grave claims the true Mary. Instead, we have featured this wandering spirit along the road where many a hitchhiker has spotted her. Here's some hollywood-ized folklore about this ghost:NOTE: this is a new youtube link...you can spend endless time on youtube watching this stuff. This is a trailer clip from the movie Ray told us about.

According to legend, Resurrection Mary has been sighted at Chet's Melody Lounge, an old bar that boldly faces the cemetery from across the street. We went into the bar to freshen up from our drive down I-55. Mary walked in wearing her work clothes from the day, after a few minutes and a few sips of our drinks, Mary went to the restroom to get into costume. She returned to her bar stool wearing a long white wedding dress. Mike, (check out his myspace) he's pictured here in his Ozzie sunglasses with Mary: was jamming it out on the keyboard in the back corner of the bar. He commented on her "nice dress" in mid-song. We looked for the Bloody Mary that is supposed to sit at the end of the bar for the famous ghost and we also looked for "The Ballad of Resurrection Mary" on the jukebox. (My Chicago Haunts book by Ursela Bielski promised these details.) Apparently only the bartender on Sunday has a Bloody Mary out for the ghost and the jukebox went digital and doesn't have the song anymore. We got our fill of stories of ghost encounters from the locals in the bar. Gil, who bought two beers for us "two hippie chicks at the end of the bar," told us of how he passed out outside the bar after claiming there was no such thing as ghosts. His cigarette went flying out of his hand. Rez Mary was not happy! Ray, Chet's Melody Lounge webmaster, and an extra in the Resurrection Mary Movie made in 2004, recounted the time a beer "just flew off the bar-- I swear, ask the bartender." Ray says the movie's horrible but he's in the scene that they shoot at Chet's Melody Lounge. Here is our rendition of Resurrection Mary at Chet's with Ray seated in the background:

The real shots at the Cemetery gates will be fully revealed in the calendar but here's a sneak preview:

The legendary steel bars where Mary is believed to have pulled the bars apart and imprinted her tiny lady-ghost hands have long since been replaced. (The cemetery claims that a truck backed into the gate. But believers insist that it mysteriously wouldn't "take" to new coats of paint in that same spot.)

Tuesday Dawdle #9

My Tuesday Doodle has dawdled one too many times. Here is a genuine doodle brought to you on an actual Tuesday.