Living Exteriors

I have recently started getting back into assemblage and I have to say, it has been incredibly rewarding. Day after day I wake up inspired and ready to work. It's as if the pieces just come pouring out of me. And collecting the materials is just as fun. Whether it be beach combing for driftwood, creek walking for stones, or yard-saling it up for discarded "junk," I always seem to end up with something special. I work with found objects, which personally makes it more interesting and engaging for me. I'm particularly fascinated by old scrap wood and hardware. It leaves me wondering where each object has been. Was it once shiny, new and loved? Was it part of someones home? If so, who lived there? It's interesting to speculate on its past and on the trajectory that brought it to it's current state of decay.

The last few days have ended in excellent treasures. Yesterday I was able to nab some ornate table legs, broken statue feet and various other interesting tidbits, after responding to an ad for free scrap wood on Craigslist. Today I explored an old abandoned shack in the middle of the woods, and was able to find all sorts of old rusty hardware and interesting pieces of wood laying buried amongst the ruble. I now have enough supplies to keep creating for several weeks. Just thinking about it makes me happy. Above is a piece I finished this afternoon. I'd like to think i've used these discarded parts to create an intimate little piece of architecture all in its own. I'd be very interested to hear other peoples thoughts or reactions to the above piece.