Other posts about marks:
Making your Mark - essay about self-promotion
Marks have Meaning - art tutorial
All such Graphic Reminders are the playful fault of Nancy S.M. Waldman
© 2007 all rights reserved
by Nancy S.M. Waldman
My grandmother, Polly Mahala Reed was a talented seamstress. When I think of the word “Alterations” I think of her.
She, like many of her generation, made most of her family’s clothes. My mother can describe in detail the colors and fabrics of the outfits she and her sister are wearing in the black and white photos from her childhood in the 1920’s and 30’s. But when I knew my grandmother, she was working as a seamstress in a smart little dress shop in San Diego. She did alterations.
Making clothes from scratch is a pretty great skill, but the idea of taking something ready-made and tailoring it to meet the needs of a particular body or taste, is even more amazing. Polly had to not only be able to envision what would work and how, but also have the technical skills to carry out those changes and have the finished product look better than new.
Altering anything can make it new again.
So here’s an Alterations Challenge!
functional objects out of art |
Here are some functional items you could play with to transform into art:
* toothbrushes
* hair brushes
* broom
* pet toys
* plant pots
* old technology (be careful with the ‘innards’; many have toxic materials)
* any kind of recycling - plastic, cardboard, cans
We’re using the term “art” broadly to mean something that is fun, beautiful, wacky, decorative, playful, colorful, wonderful, unexpected, instructive, metaphorical - but NOT primarily functional.
Here’s a great example that was featured in the original PCQ:
Here’s another favourite of mine:
Clean out your make-up items that are not being used and make an assemblage out of them. Construct a shadow box or doll furniture (ok, so that’s slightly functional but we’ll count it as art) . Try playing cards, match boxes, pin cushions, ashtrays, magazines. See our Altered Books article for inspiration.
Here’s a sun-catcher I made from a used gelpen:
As for the other side of the challenge: use old, dusty, dog-eared, torn, faded, broken or “failed” art or photographs as the raw material for something beautifully useful, such as:
* jewelry
* containers (for cell phone, glasses, jewelry)
* frames
* pots
* waste baskets
* pillows
* lamps
* small furniture
Here’s a box I made out of a painting I did years ago:
This was a ready-made craft store box that I covered in old photographs and paper:
Use things you have around the house that would otherwise gather dust, or be thrown or given away.
How about broken glassware or dishes? They make great mosaics and jewelry.
Do you have old craft projects that will never get finished? Think about them in a new way. It’s great for dealing with that I-didn’t-finish-it guilt that can sap and sabotage our creative energy.
Be aware of what’s around you, what you are throwing away or what is on the shelves of your closet or in your junk drawers. Raise your level of consciousness and take the time to experiment.
© 2007 all rights reserved by the artist on all images
We have a lot of fun alterations on our site. check out these other PCQ articles and examples:
Baywhale
- How to Make a Photosandwich
Maureen Shaughnessy - altered photographs
- thoughts and images
- tutorial and images
Cynthia Korzekwa
- On Colour
- Art Begins at Home: recycled and reused items made into art
Karen Hatzigeorgiou
- Altered books / Found Poetry
coming soon:
Nancy Waldman
- Found Poetry
- Article about Norman Sherfield’s, “Six Pac”: Naturally Good
Or just click on the topic: Alterations.
Originally published in the January 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: alterations
Altered slightly for re-publication in The Practically Creative Quarter
All such Graphic Reminders in The PCQ are the playful fault of Nancy S.M. Waldman © 05 - 07 all rights reserved
Originally published in the January 2006 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: alterations
a collaboration by Nancy Chan & David Taylor
[a Chan picture from China with Taylor words from London] Read the rest of this entry »
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by Nancy Waldman
The metAphorism:
Burma-Shave Signs
The Lesson:
spaces provoke > > >
anticipation, humour, suspense, thrills, interest …
Unless you were born in the USA before 1955 or so, you won’t remember this brilliant advertising coup. So why bring it up now? Because Burma-Shave ads point out the important of what this PCQ is all about: leaving space between things.
From the 1920’s, Burma-Shave entertained highway drivers by putting poems on a series of six tiny, red signs spaced a few hundred feet apart. The last new signs were posted back in 1963 but people still remember and talk about them. Why? They are memorable not only for their humour but also because
EACH
SIGN
TOOK
ITS
OWN
TIME.
At the end there was usually a laugh and sometimes a surprise. Of course people looked forward to seeing what they would come up with next. You can be sure, though, that if the whole message had been on one sign - just like every other billboard - people would not be talking about them over 40 years after the last one was posted. That’s why we remember them and that’s why you should keep Burma-Shave in mind when you do your creative work.
Here are a few examples:
SAY, BIG BOY
TO GO
THRU LIFE
HOW’D YOU LIKE
A WHISKERED WIFE?
Burma-Shave - (1937)
HENRY THE EIGHTH
SURE HAD
TROUBLE
SHORT TERM WIVES
LONG TERM STUBBLE
BURMA-SHAVE
IN CUPID’S LITTLE
BAG OF TRIX
HERE’S THE ONE
THAT CLIX
WITH CHIX
BURMA-SHAVE (1947)
And there were many about highway safety:
YOU CAN’T REACH 80
HALE AND HEARTY
BY DRIVING 80
HOME FROM
THE PARTY
BURMA-SHAVE(1940)
This one is in the popular culture section of the Smithsonian Museum:
WITHIN THIS VALE
OF TOIL
AND SIN
YOUR HEAD GROWS BALD
BUT NOT YOUR CHIN - USE
BURMA-SHAVE
And a favourite of mine:
SAID JULIET
TO ROMEO
IF YOU
WON’T SHAVE
GO HOMEO
BURMA-SHAVE
Remember Burma-Shave as you work creatively. In writing, acting, dance, music, comedy, painting, photography and simple conversation don’t forget the pauses, stops, rests and spaces-in-between! Here’s my own ditty to help you remember:
When you strive
to be
divine
Take a pause
between each sign
like Burma-Shave
for more information on the history of Burma-Shave signs go to signindustry.com/outdoor/articles/
Originally published in the July 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly; theme: space and spaces
all such graphic reminders in The PCQ are the playful fault of
Nancy S.M. Waldman - © 2007; all rights reserved
All such Graphic Reminders in The PCQ are the playful fault of
Nancy S.M. Waldman, © 2005-2007 all rights reserved
