The First Thing You See: Exploration #5

As you may have guessed, it's time for my latest exploration project from the book, How To Be An Explorer Of The World: Portable Art Life Museum by Keri Smith. I went out yesterday to gather the materials for my task. It was at this point that I began to suspect Keri Smith was plotting to clean all the trash from the Earth, in the guise of an art project.

Exploration #5:


THE FIRST THING YOU SEE

Start a collection based on the first thing you see on your walk, whatever that is. You decide what the connection between the objects is (can be based on shape, color, size, etc.).

For this assignment I decided to leave my neck of the woods and headed toward Springfield. I ended up at the old train tracks that my friends and I used to play on when we were children. I parked my car at Nathanael Greene Park and headed down the tracks.

starting down the tracks

The first thing that caught my eye was a flattened soda can. Rules are rules, so I picked it up and placed it in the plastic bag I had brought along. My collection would be discarded beverage cans. I wasn't sure how many of these I would be able to find on the old tracks, but if kids still used them as a place to hang out and play make believe, I might be in luck. Sure enough, my hunch was correct. The old tracks proved to be a hotbed of garbage (yes, I realize how sad this fact is). 

I walked along collecting can after can and before long I had reached the bridge over Scenic road. I debated going on, but decided against it. Along with all the trash littering the abandoned tracks was a plethora of broken glass. Protected by only my thin moccasins, I headed back to the car (I had collected plenty of old cans anyhow).

The bridge. My stopping point.

Once home, I set about finding a creative way to display my collection. The following photos show what I came up with.

The Can Collection

After tying the cans with festive string, I hung them from the deck railing.

And then attempted a few artsy shots.

And that concludes exploration #5. What did I learn from this assignment?

1. People around here like to drink Diet Coke and cheap beer

2. Picking up litter can be fun

3. The closest thing to time travel is visiting your childhood haunts

In a 1960's IBM film about the computer there is a good description of the creative process...

The narrator states that the artist is never bored. She looks at everything and stores it all up. She rejects nothing; she is completely uncritical. When a problem confronts her she goes through all the stuff she has collected, sorts out what seems to be helpful in this situation, and relates it in a new way, making a new solution. She prepares for leaps by taking in EVERYTHING. -Corita Kent

P.S. There is still time to enter the October Book Giveaway! Will you be the winner? Enter and find out on October 31st 2013. 

~ Love & Light ~