BE INCLUSIVE

 
 

THE PROCESS & THE DISCOVERY

To make art, one must be able to imagine art in the most obscure places. Part of the process of an artist is to see a random object and be able to imagine it's place somewhere on your canvas. I have been creating my art for many years, I have also collected things throughout the years to use in my artistic processes  and in many cases have held onto pieces of seemingly "junk" knowing that at some point, I would use them in a creation that would allow the viewer to see it in a different way. Recently I sold a mirror that had a piece of worn, smooth wood that I found on a hike in Arizona 10 years ago. Another mirror gave rebirth to a rusted coil from an old mattress that I found in a shack at the base of the Superstition Mtns. 12 years ago. I thought I would share the process of my discovery with you, give you a glimpse into where the pieces arrive from and how they end up from a dilapidated building to a piece of art hanging on someone's wall.

In my experience it has been much more than finding pieces. The feelings and thoughts that flow through as I rummage through someone's once home is unexplainable. Sometimes the feelings are good, they are peaceful - other times I feel fearful, or sad. I question many things as you will see. So come ... let me take you on my latest exploration ....

I took random roads, most of the time I didn't know where I was - just that I was in the general vicinity of Walterboro, SC. If you asked me to take you back to these places, I'm not sure I could. That is part of what makes this exciting - not knowing where or how, just going.

 

January 30, 2007

The Old Water Warehouse

    

 

I had to hike in a little ways to this abandoned warehouse. I'm not sure what it's original use was for but had guessed something to do with water or grains. I found many pieces of rusted metal, and rusted tin which I collected as well as some interesting rocks.

      


 

There were 3 stories to this building. One thing I have learned in the past is to take every step with great caution when climbing to another level. Many times these buildings are so run down that you could find yourself falling through a stair. This building had a lot of graffiti which also made me keenly aware of my surroundings, and to listen to every noise in case someone else ended up there.

   

The building sat just off the train tracks, perhaps at one time it was a loading area for trains. As I explored, this train passed by. I stood by as it rumbled past, standing just a few feet from the tracks. I could feel the earth moving beneath me and the spikes that hold down the tracks were bobbing up and down - I never realized how much movement occurs on a track when a train is passing by.

  

       

 

Here I was on the second floor - I wasn't sure what to make of the "noose" that was laying on the floor. The floor had random square holes in it, this particular hole lined right up with the graffiti "I Love Cock" on the floor below.

  

Next stop...

 The Inmate's Yellow House

     

 

I have been in many abadoned homes throughout the years, I've seen a few such as this one where the family just seemed to one day disappear. Everything was a shambles, clothes and furniture, papers, dishes, everything was everywhere but whoever left - didn't take a thing with them. Personal items were left behind. In the main bedroom of this house tacked to the wall was the hospital card that had the feet and hand prints of Charlie the day he was born in 1997. Clothes still hung in the closet and as you can see, "clean" dishes still in the rack to dry. I'm curious what happened, why did they abruptly leave? Did they die? Were they thrown out into the streets?

On the floor in the bedroom I found a booklet from the South Carolina Correctional Institution. It was called "Guidelines for Inmates" and of course I had to take it because who would have ever thought inmates were handed guides upon their arrival and given "guidelines"?

    

 

Then, in the midst of all the filth and lifeless energy is one of natures miracles ... a purse hanging on the wall housed the perfectly built birds nest with an egg in the bottom. It had also been long abandoned, but how interesting to know that the home became home to more than just it's original owners.

 

 

Some of the ironies of these places are the contrasting images - children's toys, papers from school, a certificate for "Best Student of the Month" and then the obvious signs of adults such as the sign above which hung prominently in the once lively living room. Of all the houses I visited this day, this house was the "fullest' - had the most stuff in it and ironically, the only two things I took from it was a rusted piece of a screen door and the Guidelines for Inmates - never know when I may need to brush up on those!

Next stop ...

The Mechanics House

The house itself was not worth noting as much as the garage and the woods behind. I spent over an hour in this place and still want to return for some things. Whoever lived here obviously worked a great deal on cars - many of them, perhaps hundreds! I suspect many of the cars are still buried in the woods behind the house! If  you look in the above photo, the window that is sitting cockeyed in it's frame ... that will someday be a piece of Dakota Art.

  

Crawling through this garage, I had one of those moments of panic because once in I realized I had no idea where I was and the building was completely caved in - some areas I was on my belly crawling under things just to get to the other side of the room. Those are moments of self realization when I wonder if I am an artist of really just an idiot!

 

       

 

The yard/woods behind the house seemed to be more "lived" in than the house did. Chairs, appliances, toys, etc. littered the land profusely. I found many cars and trucks buried in the woods - when I say buried, I literally mean buried - sometimes all I saw was a piece of a hood or bumper protruding from the ground such as this dodge truck. The rest of the truck was there too, but was ... you guessed it, buried. I wanted this hood, once cleaned up it would have made a fabulous wall decoration with some lighting behind it. I may go back someday for it.

This might have been the oddest site of the day. This tub and freezer sat in the middle of nowhere - and although you might think it was randomly dumped there ... it wasn't ... there was a pipe coming from the ground that fed into the tub. Yep, these people bathed in the woods!

 

My highlight of the day ....

The Bus

I fell in love with this bus ... beautiful colors, believe it or not! The trees were actually growing out of the bus it had been there so long.

      

 

The tones were so rich, and I had to wonder who this bus carried before it became the mechanics storage for his parts.

 

     

Mark my words, I will someday return for this hood - and when I get it, it will be hung on my wall .... it will be the envy of everyone who walks through my house!

My next stop ....

The Ghostly House

  

I say ghostly because sometimes when I visit a place I can feel different energies. In some places I will get an overwhelming fear and typically I won't stay around. Sometimes a place just feels empty, and lonely - like the yellow inmates house. This house felt neither of those ways but I could definitely feel a presence ... just something still hanging out. I was somewhat fearful of the house  because it was so unstable - walls were falling into each other, every step I took the floor would break through. It clearly was not a safe place to be ... but .... if you know me, you will know that I am not particularly a huge fan of playing it safe! I love adventure, I love surprises, I love being on the edge ... anything "safe" just feels boring to me (unless it's love, I like being safe in love ...)

 

 

     

 

The house had no roof in most places so sunlight filtered through, which I thought in some weird way actually made it look very beautiful. Overall there was not anything really personal in it. A few pieces of furniture but most everything was destroyed ... almost everything that is ....

    

 

I don't know if you are familiar with "orbs" or not - there are two theories of thoughts on them - the primary theory is that small round white circles that show up in photos are thought to be energies or ghosts, the other thought is that they are merely dust particles that the flash bounces off of. In this house there was nothing personal except for the articles of clothing that are hanging in the above photos - they seemed untouched by the destruction that has happened around them. In both photos that show the clothing there are "orbs" and if you go by the theory of dust you might want to take note there are no other orbs in any of the photos I took on this same day - if it was dust, they would have shown up in more photos. Just something to think about ... What I did take from this house was an old door that I was able to kick into pieces. Old weathered wood panels from an old door .... I already know what I am going to create with them!

Next stop ....

The Nothing House

I call it the nothing house because there was nothing of interest, I found nothing, I couldn't get inside, and it was surrounded by mucky water.

Next and last stop .....

A-Frame House

This monster of a house looked like it had been vacated for a very long time yet held so much junk. I couldn't actually get inside - I could have, but didn't bring a flashlight and was surprisingly afraid of the dark .. I walked into the door that is to the bottom left and I'm sure it would have taken me to many places but I wasn't brave enough to investigate .... some of the notes I made to myself this day:

  1. Bring a flashlight (this house would have been fun to explore)

  2. Bring a knife (I could have used a knife several times)

  3. Bring pliers, wire cutters, and screw driver (I might have been able to get that bus hood if I had!)

  4. Bring Kleenex (it was cold and my nose kept running!)

  5. Bring a friend (it would have been so much more fun to have discovered these places with someone else!)

 

 

Outside this house were several shacks filled with "stuff" as well as stuff scattered throughout the yard. I did find some great windows here and what I think might happen in my next art project will be

"Windows to the Soul"