“Find magic in the little things, and the big things you always expected will start to show up.”
― Isa Zapata
Your #virginiacreates May calendar is coming to you a bit late because I was on an artist's retreat in San Gimignano, Italy and, blessedly, I had little WiFi. The retreat was run by Michael Dowling of Spoke, www.spokeart.org, an amazing organization that I highly recommend you look at the work that they do!!!
This month's #virginiacreates calendar is featuring one of the collages that I made during my retreat. Inspired by a story that Michael shared on our first morning. He spoke about a woman who was committed to an asylum and who collected stuff out of the trash to embroider and to create with. The asylum staff saw this habit of going through the trash as proof of her mental sickness and medicated her. This story broke my heart on so many levels. I am a woman who has used trash and debris in much of her work - from an international business of making jewelry out of used bottle caps to a room sized installation centered around a n 8 foot dress sculpture made out of used eggshells.
for your personal enjoyment …
So on my first day of retreat, I wondered the magical streets of this medieval town with Michael's story replaying in my head. Soon my attention was drawn to a discarded museum ticket and this series began. Below are some more of these collages. Most are created on 4x6 watercolor paper, though as the series progressed I was just working with my found treasures, creating unique art objects.
peace
