Artist as Collectors of Info: let’s get personal – olivia ciummo

I was thinking about the differences between practices of artists in book collecting as to people who collect books for their rarity. I guess it is self-explanatory as to how and why a person would collect for the sake of collecting an object, pretty straightforward.  I guess the question I ask is it the same for artist?

With artist I found a distinct engagement in the way the collection is formed, the content and cataloging. A personal connection to the collection rather than a collection biased on accumulation of rare forms.  I’m not saying all that collectors outside of the realm of art have no connection to the content of their collection. Rather the idea of contrasting and comparing collecting objects for personal reference to collecting objects for sequential relevance due out of a system of capitalist (meaning money making) publishing.

I interviewed filmmaker, video maker and artist tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE to investigate the functions of his book collection. (please note the questions I ask) I also referenced Martha Rosler’s collection to look for similarities in these two artists’ trade of collecting books. This I contrast with book collectors of another kind. Such as noted in Baudrillard’s The System of Objects (I know we all love Baudrillard) page 93. He accounts a story told by Maurice Rheims (art collector and writer on art) about a bibliophile that dealt with unique and original copies of books, who one day learned about a second copy of a particular book. Leaning this he tracked down the location, bought the book burned it and had a lawyer draw up a legal document stating that his copy was now the ONLY copy. This is the contrast I speak of between artist that collect and collectors, though possibly extreme.  The notion of objectification and putting forth the effort of doing violent actions to identify the object as an object to be counted, collected or amassed.  This I think is absent form the story on Martha Rosler’s website (http://www.e-flux.com/projects/library/about.php) and form the interview below with tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE. These artist have collected to do research, to understand knowledge and to use it to make art. Not to own an object.

Interview with tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

When did you start being a book collector? Was it a particular book or subject that got you started?

The value of the books that I collect is based on their content & the significance of that content to me personally NOT on market value – which would usually be contrary to what I consider to be important.  It’s also based on how rare the content of the book is.

For example, I’m not as likely to buy a mass-market cookbook, even though the recipes might be useful, just because there’s no ‘need’ for my library to contain a book that’s likely to be found easily elsewhere.  The books I acquire are books I intend to READ or, at least, use as a reference work.  As such, I’m much more likely to look for rare music theory, politics, film history, science, literature, art, etc, books than I am for something as omnipresent as something by a popular horror writer, eg.  I won’t get a book just because it’s a 1st edition or some such, but I will look for publications that I think will be hard to find because they’re small editions, etc..

How you go about searching for books on the Internet? Do you still use methods of searching other than the Internet?

I’m almost constantly researching & looking for books that might be valuable sources for me to study.  EG: after we talked on the phone tonight, I started thinking that I should read that Iranian book of the so-called ‘terrorist’ confessions that I was lucky enough to pick up an English-language copy of in Australia.  That got me to thinking about Reza Baraheni, the author of “The Crowned Cannibals: Writings on Repression in Iran”.  Reza was an Iranian poet in exile in the USA who had been tortured under the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK.  I knew him in Baltimore & we both gave readings at a friend’s apartment one night in Baltimore in the late 1970s.  I decided that I should read his book 1st so I went online & ordered a copy of it (only $5.00 w/ shipping!).  That means I’ve now set in motion YET-ANOTHER research for myself.

How do you go about lending books out?

If someone that I know will benefit from or appreciate the book I will lend it out to them
(unless it’s TOO irreplaceable).  The lending process is ‘controlled’ by trust and memory. For example, if someone borrows a book it’s up to them to remember to return it.  If it’s been a long time and I see that the book is still missing I’ll harass them to return it.  If neither they nor I remember then it’s a loss. I don’t lend to people I don’t know.
My system isn’t that different from any other lending library except that it’s based more on trust & doesn’t have a bureaucracy.

How do you catalog each item?

Again, not THAT differently from any other library insofar as books are organized according to content rather than by, say, the cover’s color or some such.  The organizational categories are simply very common ones that I’m likely to remember such as Literature, Art, and Film, etc. But these categories aren’t necessarily the best for accuracy.  For example, Timothy Leary can be found under Drugs, though he might be more correctly filed under philosophy – I just put his books under drugs because I mostly associate him with expanded consciousness research that involves LSD, etc.

When did you start being a book collector? Was it a particular book or subject that got you started?

When I was a little kid my elementary school had a few book sales
& I got a copy of a book of limericks & illustrations by Edward Lear
called “A Book of Nonsense”.  I probably had other books before that
but that’s the one that really sticks in my mind as somehow ‘precious’
- ‘precious’ in the sense of seeming almost magically wonderful to me.

How you go about searching for books on the internet?

I rarely search for books on the internet.  If I did I’d have to use extreme critical limitations or it would be too expensive.

Do you still use methods of searching other than the internet?

I mainly look for books in used book stores, at library sales, yard sales,
that sort of thing.  Wherever they can be gotten cheapest or for free.

If you are especially eager to obtain a copy of a particular book, do you buy one in lesser condition if that is all that’s available?

Condition is of little importance except insofar as it effect readability.
I want all of its pages to be there..  that sort of thing.

Do you upgrade to a better copy when one becomes available?

Not usually.  I’d rather get a different book than repeat.

What other hobbies, interests, or recreation or arts, etc., do you enjoy?

I’m interested in almost everything EXCEPT sports.

What would you like to tell us, business or personal, about yourself?

electronically signed,

He-Who-Has-Written

Amir-ul Kafirs

Some tenuous beginnings of P.N.T. (Perverse Number Theory):
(for all x)x = (for all x)x (Anything is Anything)
(A Double Negative As Not A Positive)
(A finite quantity represented as a set containing
an infinite quantity of its subdivisions
(such as its subdivision in terms of rational numbers)
does not equal the same finite quantity
represented as a set containing an infinite quantity
OF A DIFFERENT DEGREE of its subdivisions
(such as its subdivision in terms of irrational numbers).)
m + n does not equal n + m is isomorphic to x
the ceiling of x is greater than or equal to the ceiling of the ceiling of x
(Enough is Enough)
The Formula of the Origin of the H.M. (Hermaphrodite Mafia):
(S0+S0) = so&so (predicate: 1 + 1 = the free variable so-&-so)
interpretation 01: predicate:
The successor to zero plus the successor to zero
equals the free variable so-&-so.
interpretation 02: predicate:
Parents have produced a child
that transcends their fixed gender status.

Some tenuous beginnings of I.J.T. (Internal Jumbling Technique):
The biran of hdeas teird & selpt ’til its biarn was in a wreid sacpe.  It cvread the stlay crud on its berad & in its driay snak in the sitan of the bran & the bran aklie.

&, REMEMBER,
Work will make you Free Trade,

anonymous /
David A. Bannister / Luther Blissett / Monty Cantsin / Karen Eliot /
E.G.Head / id ntity / Tim Ore / Party Teen on Couch #2 /
RATical / Alan Smithee / SpRATacus / tANGO, aLPHA cHARLIE /
tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE /
1/2 of “Who is like God?s”

For a highly abridged promotional lo-fi version of my “Book ‘Em” documentary:

For a copy of my book that references my 1st 9 books:

http://www.amazon.com/footnotes-tENT/dp/0977624250/sr=1-1/qid=1159322289/ref=sr_1_1/104-4080608-6135133?ie=UTF8&s=books

For info about the press that published the above:

http://www.sixgallerypress.com/books.html

Here’s a recent article I wrote about my friend Bruce Stater’s writing:

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:7H6MD6MD7CsJ:www.ahadadabooks.com/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,32/+Staterment&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us

The video of my presentation at THE INFLUENCERS fest in Barcelona in 2004
can be accessed @:

http://theinfluencers.org/en/tentatively/video/1

wch surprises me because I was pretty unpopular there.

For 2 volumes of my “Piano Illiterature” on the Internet Archive:
<http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=tENTATIVELY%2C%20a%20cONVENIENCE%20AND%20mediatype%3Aaudio>
Thanks to the ever-lovin’ Germaine Fodor for putting this on-line!!

the “Whoop Up @ the Funny Farm” audio track
from the “Luther Blissett – Open Pop Star” CD
can be downloaded from:
<http://www.lutherblissett.net/archive/480_en.html>

An outdated version or another of the venerable Seven by Nine Squares is available at:
<http://www.thing.de/projekte/7:9%23/Welcome.html>

A subset of the above concentrating on my writings being:
<http://www.thing.de/projekte/7:9%23/tent_index.html>

S.P.C.S.M.E.F. web-site: <http://www.fyi.net/~anon/spcsmef.html>
or is it: <http://www.timesnet.net/~anon/spcsmef.html>

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE action reports:
<http://www.fyi.net/~anon/MereOutlineIndex.html>
or is it: <http://www.timesnet.net/~anon/MereOutlineIndex.html>?

“History Begins Where Life Ends” can be read at:
<http://www.thing.de/projekte/7:9%23/tent_history_begins.html>

WIdémoUTH tapes related text: <http://www.fyi.net/~anon/WdmUHome.html>
or: <http://www.timesnet.net/~anon/WdmUHome.html>

Now available for download, Retrograde Release no. 28, February 2004:
PhonoStatic 27′ cassette
Description: <http://psrf.detritus.net/volume/5/k7.html>
(direct download of 11 ogg vorbis file available on above link)
This includes my 8:20 sped-up piano piece entitled:
“It’s Not As Easy As You Might Think To Be A Pseudo-Virtuoso (#2)”

Downloads from CD release of Scrape Audio Magazine #1:
“Tone Fones Duet” & “Top Bottom”
are available at:
<http://plutoniumpress.com/scrape1.html>

FLICKER: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE – Sprocket Scientist:
<http://www.hi-beam.net/mkr/tac/tENTHome.html>

N.A.A.M.C.P.: <http://www.fyi.net/~anon/naamcp.html>
or is it: <http://www.timesnet.net/~anon/naamcp.html>

I reckon that one of these yrs there’ll be link from here:
<http://www.iaco-op.net/sitework.htm>
to the vaudeo I made about the Industrial Arts Co-Op’s Deerhead sculpture.

Mottos & Slogans:

“Anything is Anything”
“No More Punching-Bag Clowns!”
“Neoism Now! & Then!”;
“Kill Normality Before It Kills You!”
“The Revenge of the Impotent is to Try to Neuter the Fertile”
“Before You Decide Against Biting the Hand That Feeds You,
Ask Why It Has So Much Food in the First Place”
“When MONEY is GOD, the POOR are HUMAN SACRIFICES”
“WE are all UNEQUAL under the LAW & THAT is its PURPOSE!”
“USICIAN, Use Thyself!”

self-description:

Mad Scientist / d composer / Sound Thinker / Thought Collector / As Been /
PIN-UP (Postal Interaction Network Underground Participant) /
Headless Deadbeat of the Pup tENT Cult /
booed usician / Low Classicist / H.D.J. (Hard Disc Jockey) /
Psychopathfinder / Jack-Off-Of-All-Trades / criminally sane /
Homonymphonemiac / Practicing PromoTextual /
Air Dresser /
Sprocket Scientist / headitor & earchivist / Explicator /
Sexorcist /
Professional Resister of Character Defamation /
Proponent of Classification-Resistant What-Have-Yous /
tOGGLE nUT cASE /
Princess of Dorkness’s Right Hand Man /
Human Attention-ExSpanDex Speculum /
Imp Activist /
SPLEENIUS / Cognitive Dissident

social associations:

nuclear brain physics surgery’s cool founder & graduate
Krononaut / Church of the SubGenius Santa / Neoast?! / Pregroperativist
talent scout for Olfactories Organized
S.S.S.B.ite (Secret Society for Strange Behaviour -ite)
A.S.S.S.B.
(Anti-Secret Society for Strange Behaviour Asshole Son-of-a-Bitch)
member of the I.S.C.D.S. (International Stop Continental Drift Society)
1 time supporter of the ShiMo Underground
Ballooning One in the Fructiferous Society
founder & president of the N.A.A.M.C.P.
(National Association for the Advancement of Multi-Colored Peoples)
<http://www.fyi.net/~anon/naamcp.html>
co-founder of the S.P.C.S.M.E.F.
(Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys
by Experimental Filmmakers)
<http://www.fyi.net/~anon/spcsmef.html>
Borderline Kneelite in the KNEEHIGHS GANG
emphatic member of the No-No Class
Street Rat Liberation Front
Money Against Capitalism
What?! Collective

“Why, if we allow them to think for themselves there would be anarchy!”
- a fictitious quote from Daniel Webster

The PRESENT of Information Storage/Retrieval
lies in understanding how to decode-from/encode-in ANY medium
(such as the surface you’re reading this from)

File under DDC#040.002

Gordon Matta-Clark, Fake Estates

Documentation of an Artist’s Collection
Erik Peterson

Can one collect air?  Can one collect stars?  Can one collect land?  The answers to these questions is of course yes, yes, and yes.  Marcel Duchamp collected 50 cc of Paris air and cell phone companies are buying it from over our heads, the naming rights for stars is for sale on starnamer.net, and certainly land is bought and sold as “property” all the time.  Collecting intangibles like “land,” objectifying and possessing it as property, is probably the cornerstone tenet in our democratic/capitalist society.  In young America, property not only had functional value, but political as well.  Land gave freedom for a white male to participate in government, to cast a vote as a “landowner”.
Land is one of the most one of the most sought after objects to own, everyone wants a “piece of the pie.”  The playground question I remember from childhood was: do you own just the skin of the crust or the diminishing slice all the way to the molten core?  Is land a surface or volume, a painting or sculpture?  Perhaps owning land, you are just purchasing the right to use it until you and all your descendents die.  The functionality seems paramount, a farmer buys arable land, an hotel developer buys land on the beach.  But what if the land is unusable?
Gordon Matta-Clark, most famous for his work cutting large voids into disused buildings, observed these oddities of American land ownership and went about collecting parcels of land that were as close to unusable as can be.  His collection consisted of 15 extremely marginal pieces of the New York City pie, fourteen in Queens and one in Staten Island.  The land, sold at city auctions as “gutterspace,” was often behind or in-between buildings, utterly inaccessible, extremely small and oddly shaped, or quite literally a gutter.  Formed by the quixotic jousts of municipal intervention – strange zoning arrangements, cast-offs from public works projects, and left-over slices from surveys – these lots became metaphors for the fracturing of space and the inherent strangeness of property ownership.  The fact that Matta-Clark purchased the parcels (instead of simply collecting photos of them or circling them on a map) speaks volumes to the absurdity of the commercialization of something so physical and yet so ephemeral.  It also speaks to the nature of collecting, where an object is stripped of its intended function to become a singular possession.  The nature of the possession of land becomes even more intriguing when the land is functionless, such that the only purpose is to be the “property” of a collector.
The final manifestation of the project, which was to be called Fake Estates, was never realized due to Matta-Clark’s untimely death in 1978.  The cycle of landownership redoubled, and the city reclaimed the sites due to unpaid taxes.  Luckily, a physical manifestation of the piece is still possible due to the artist’s collection of buerocratic ephemera surrounding the sales of the estates.  Matta-Clark not only collected unusable (and often unseeable) bits of land, but also the documentation surrounding its existence.  His archived collections – the deed of sale, tax-assessors maps, photographs and films of the sites, and writings – now form the material representation that documents his immaterial collection of former possessions: land that had no function but to exist.

Video stills from a 1975 video by Jaime Davidovick with Gordon Matta-Clark shot on site during Matta-Clark’s Reality Properties: Fake Estates project

Alison Knowles Lecture Wed Oct 29

Alison Knowles Lecture

Art+ Design Lecture Series, Columbia College Chicago

Oct 29, 2008

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

623 S. Wabash Ave. room 203

Alison Knowles is a genuinely interdisciplinary artist. One of the original members of the Fluxus group in the 1960s, she was a founder of Something Else Press (with her husband Dick Higgins), the source of numerous iconic publications connected to Fluxus, including Notations, the book she edited with John Cage. Her works have encompassed performance, sound, conceptual art, sculptural work incorporating found objects, pieces made from handmade paper, printmaking, and artists’ books. Her work is collected internationally, and she has an active career as a practicing artist and as a guest lecturer and teacher. In 2008 alone, she has done residencies in New York; Minneapolis; Durham, NY; London; Cologne; Cardiff, Wales; and Genova, Italy. After her visit to Columbia College, she will be performing in Berne and Zurich, Switzerland, and have an exhibition of her series “Rake’s Progress” in Berlin.

http://www.aknowles.com/

posted by Andrew Oleksiuk

I’m building a birdhouse – Mary Robnett

I found these birdhouses on the side of an apartment building at Lyndale and Sacramento. Most the collections I found were either an amassment of Halloween decorations…

via camera phone

or quasi abandoned storefronts.

Girl Talk makes CD?

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/146548-girl-talk-video-blogs-from-tour-animals-cd-delayed

Pilsen Homies, 18th Street, Chicago. -by Maria Gaspar

I found this collection on 18th Street and Bishop in the Pilsen Community. It is comprised of Homies toys/characters popularized within Latin American neighborhoods in Chicago. One can purchase a Homie toy from a toy machine for about $.50.

Website: http://www.homies.tv/homies2008/

Homies characters consist of several series: The Homies, The Mijos, The Hoodrats, Homie Clowns, Dogpoung, The Palermos and Trailer Park. The more popular Homies characters’ are described on their website as…”The Homies are a group of tightly knit Chicano buddies who have grown up in the Mexican American barrio ( neighborhood ) of “Quien Sabe”, ( who knows ) located in East Los Angeles. The four main characters are Hollywood, Smiley, Pelon, and Bobby Loco. Their separate and distinct personalities and characteristics together make up a single, composite entity that is the “HOMIES.” In an inner-city world plagued by poverty, oppression, violence, and drugs, the Homies have formed a strong and binding cultural support system that enables them to overcome the surrounding negativity and allows for laughter and good times as an anecdote for reality. The word “Homies” itself is a popular street term that refers to someone from your hometown or, in a broader sense, anyone that you would acknowledge as your friend. In use in the West Coast Latino community for decades, the word “Homies” has crossed over into the now mainstream Hip-Hop street culture that has taken America’s young people by storm.”

David Gonzalez, creator of The Homies Series, says “…to be able to see the world
of the Hispanic child from a humorous point of view, and to be able to write and draw 
about it, is a gift from God. I would like you to help me share it with the rest of the world.” … The artist profile states that “…during this time he has successfully marketed to the Hispanic market with a variety of custom lines. His art has been sold on t-shirts in hundreds of retail outlets, both large and specialty. Some well known accounts include J.C. Penny, Millers Outpost, Mr. Rags, and Hot Topic.”

I know of several people who collect these toys and am always amazed at their popularity. They are extremely stereotypical and mostly cater to the EAST LA MEXICAN STEREOTYPE used within our pop culture and mainstream media. The company has a number of youtube videos, songs, homegirl calendars and many, many other products that are marketed towards Latinos. I question the relationship between the purchaser being of Latin American descent purchasing a stereotypical image of themselves. This collection is interesting because it is small storefront space that is owned by a private family. How many years did it take for them to create this collection? They included other characters, like Sponge Bob, Lisa Simpson and others.

Novelas and Comic Books by Jose Velazco

Two novela for two dollars

Three comic books, three dollars

Here is my found collection of comic books and short story paperbacks at my local corner store.

Here is video of the collection….

Missing Children Posters

I found this grouping of missing children posters in a convenience store window on Ashland and Augusta.

At first I was hesitant to use this for the assignment because of the serious/sad nature of the subject matter, but I was curious about how this collection operated in relation to many of the consumer/product driven collections that we have been discussing.  Also, I found the idea of collecting something that is missing (although I realize that’s not exactly what’s going on here) to be very interesting.

When the posters are hung together, they become a collection of missing children images and statistics.  The public display of the posters functions not only as a exhibition of artifacts, but as a way of distributing information, with a very specific goal in mind.

I did not feel comfortable talking to the store owner about the posters, but I was interested in knowing more about his motivations in posting this selection, how/where he gets the posters, if they were brought to him, if he himself prints them out from the missing children website, and if so how he chooses which ones to post and if he ever takes any of the posters down.  Many of the children had been missing since the early nineties, while some were missing as recently as a few months ago.  Most of the posters had been folded and/or damaged in some way, which makes me doubt that they were printed out specifically for display in this window.

As a final note, I found the juxtaposition of the posters to the “Protected, Security…” sticker on the window to be quite unsettling.

-Michael

cermak unisex

What I thought was a shrine in a unisex hairdressers window, was actually a religious store with old signs. The figurines were placed in the window to show people that this was a place for spirituality.

how many pez despensers can you fit in one bathroom?

Cozy Noodles on Sheffield is overwhelming. There are toys in the front window, and lining all of the walls. There is a collection of license plates in the front entry way. There is a collection of thermoses on one wall. In the women’s restroom there are hundreds of pez despensers on the walls. I didn’t count, because I would have been in there for ages.

There is an article from the Chicago Reader on the restaurant’s website. It goes into more detail on the collection and the history of the restaurant’s owner/collector Suppalek Meunprasittiueg or Tee for short. He started collecting when he was 12. He collects most things from flea markets, but has recently been using the internet to add to it. Read more about the collection here and find directions to Cozy here.

-Rebecca

McLuckie Fossil Collection

I viewed the fossil (also Indian artifact, mineral, sea shell and carved bird statue) collection and museum that was organized/created by John and Lucy McLuckie, in Coal City, Illinois.  My home town.  I had visited this ‘museum’ in June McLuckie’s garage when I was in 5th grade.  Coal City is an old mining town near Morris, Illinois.  Stip mining was the most common type of mining there, and also where John McLuckie worked as a drag line operator.  He started to notice these large roundish rocks that would tumble from his machine’s bucket.  Some would break open, and he discovered that there was fossils inside.  He started by carrying the fossils home in his lunch pail but he soon began to make specific trips to the ‘pits’ and spoil piles (or ‘dumps’) to collect fossils.  No one in this part of the country was finding or collecting fossils at this time (1930′s and on).  After a few years of collecting John and Lucy began to look for help in identifying some the the more elusive fossils.  This led them to the Field Museum in Chicago.  Work quickly spread and researchers, curators and professors were traveling from all over the world to see their collection.  A few of the fern fossils that they found were donated to the Smithsonian were they are still on display.  Other fossils are so rare that they still today get requests to study them.  The amount and depth of information about this collection and John and Lucy’s life is too large to be fully explained here.  The images here are only about half of what I had taken.  June McLuckie is the current caretaker of this collection.  She often displays them at local schools, libraries and museums; with plans for designing a proper museum in her garage or donating them in whole to an institution.

Adam Farcus

The Storefront Window of Midwest Discount Yarn

I chose to highlight a collection in the storefront window of Midwest Discount Yarn at 5723 W. Irving Park Rd. I took photos of the collection, but as I really looked at them, I imagined the language that I would use to describe the objects. This seemed like an interesting task, so I decided not to include the photos of the objects, but a written account of what is in the window instead. 

 

 

The first thing that I notice is a large decoration made of puka shells. Circular at the top, with the circle sitting on a horizontal plane. Fixed at points along the perimeter of the circle are vertical strings of various lengths composed of puka shells of various sizes: small ones at the top growing increasingly larger as your eyes move toward the bottom of the string. Near that is a handwritten sign that proclaims: “MIDWEST YARN closed WED. and SUN. Two white plastic clothes hangers are on a hook in the upper left hand corner. One is holding a buttercream yellow tee shirt containing a graphic of a bird house on the front. The back is not visible. Below that is a medium-sized roundish wreath made of curly willow branches with gerber daisies, in a variety of colors, sprinkled amidst non-specific seeds and berries. Beside the wreath is a clothes tree bearing no clothes. A sheet of translucent yellow mylar, like what you might find wrapped around an Easter basket, is crumpled beneath a small pot wrapped in cream netting. The pot holds a modest arrangement of indiscernible purple flowers. Two white cardboard boxes, like the ones you get clothes in as gifts, lay nearby. The one farthest from the window contains some kind of small pink and white outfit and on top of the article of clothing is a plastic rattle that has “It’s a girl!” printed on it. The box closest to the window contains a similar small outfit but this one is blue and white and on top of this article of clothing is a plastic rattle that has “It’s a boy!” printed on it. Under the boxes is a loose foundation of large sheets of green and silver metallic wrap. Also sitting on this metallic foundation is a handwritten sign that reads:

“FLOWERS

 $20.00 EACH”.

There are two medium sized pots that are faux-finished to look like granite and each one contains a topiary with white hydrangea blooms at the top of the stems, which look a lot like gigantic cinnamon sticks. One of the topiaries has a plastic artichoke nestled in the hydrangea blooms, and the other topiary has two. Each topiary has another plastic artichoke at the base of the cinnamon stick stem resting on the fake dirt. There is a medium sized terra cotta pot that has been painted white and it contains a spherical arrangement of violets, but they are really blue. There is another medium sized pot that is faux-finished to look like white marble and it contains a haphazard arrangement of daisies (but the petals aren’t shaped quite like daisy petals) or daffodils (but there aren’t the right number of petals) with lots of ivy-like leaves that are dark green with yellow along the plastic veins. Behind the daisiffodil pot is a canister covered in rectangular mirrors which reflect the metallic green color of the paper. On the canister is a smallish basket filled with violets (these ones are not blue) and greenery. Close to the spherical violet bundle is a box with images and graphics that implies a target market of budding pre-teen sweater makers. According to the wording on the box, inside is an automatic knitting machine. Sitting on top of the Singer knitting machine is a bundle of raffia that resembles a portable bale of straw. Wrapped around the mini-bale is a plastic string with green ivy leaves placed in equal increments along it, but it is not the same ivyish greenery that is placed at the base of the daisiffodils. On top of the ivy-wrapped mini-bale sits a light brown bunny made in the style of loopy crochet with black plastic eyes and a pom pom nose. Nestled between its ears is a large pre-fab store bought sign that states:

“CLOSED

Please Call Again”.

Beneath the puka shell dangly is a square wooden planter that contains four types of flowers. I can’t access references to specific varieties but they all appear to be tropical species. Right against the glass are three small pots. One is almost identical to the aforementioned small pot wrapped in cream netting with indiscernible purple flowers.To the right of that is a pot of the same size wrapped in lavender netting holding a modest arrangement of small fake sunflowers, Equally spaced to the right of that is yet another pot of the same size wrapped in mint green netting and it contains three not-so-bright-red roses. Beside one of the hydrangea/artichoke topiaries is a barbie doll-sized wicker chair that has some sort of small handmade stuffed animal with a bright red tongue ticking out and a light pink bow on what I assume to be its head. Behind the wicker chair is a large hand-sewn lamb with a pink satin bow tied around its neck. In front of it is a needlepoint piece enclosed in a copper-toned frame. The image is a little boy character, wearing a fireman’s helmet and boots. He has on a white shirt with gold trimming and a gold “#6″ on the chest. His suspenders are red and his shorts are light blue with royal blue trimming. He is holding a fire hose and that has droplets of water falling to the ground beside a red wooden crate wagon that is holding a gray puppy. The puppy is wearing a royal blue bandana around its neck and has an odd very three-dimensional hairdo made of thick gray yarn. I call it a hairdo, because it is only on his head. The rest of his fur seems like regular cartoon dog fur. The text above the dogs head is this:

“Smile

it makes

people wonder

what you are

up to !!”

But the exclamation points are not parallel lines. One is at a distinctly different angle. Near the framed needlepoint piece are four small hand-sewn stuffed sheep, two white, one ivory and one black. Only one of the sheep has eyes. In the middle of the sheep semicircle is a dog that is slightly larger. It has eyes (and a nose) and appears to be made of a very soft suede-like material that is the color of camels. Behind the sheep is a nondescript form. It appears to be animal-ish. It is black, has four legs, and is wearing a light blue braided cord around its neck. Above the barnyard scene is a multi-tiered set of glass shelves. On the bottom shelf is a selection very small teapot-like objects. Each design is distinct but they are collectively teapot-like. Due to their size they are probably actually creamers rather than teapots. They are painted in a manner that makes me think of gingerbread houses. The second shelf has a teeny tiny object that looks like a baby bassinet. You know the kind with the half-hood over the top. It is covered in lace and has eensy weensy pink rosebuds on it. The third shelf from the bottom has a medium sized pot wrapped in two toned silver and gold foil paper. The pot contains ten pink, barely opened tulips and they are all sort of bowing to the front of the pot. Beside the pot of tulips is a brown dinner plate with a cake made of yarn on top. I know that the cake is made of yarn because it has been produced to look like a slice has been cut from it. The color of the yarn cake makes me think of hazelnuts or streusel. The outside of the cake is covered in layers of flower petals that are orange at the bottoms transitioning into yellow at the tops. The bottom and top edges of the yarn cake are lined with a ruffle of white lace icing. Sitting behind the hazelnut yarn cake is a sock monkey wearing a maroon and orange ribbon that is tied in a bow around its neck. It makes me think of Virginia Tech until I notice that it matches her maroon colored Raggedy Ann-ish hairdo and her orange lips. Beside the streusel yarn cake is another one of those small pots wrapped in netting-this time peach-and it has two white roses in it with a sprig of baby’s breath. Next to that is the extracted slice of yarn cake which is sitting in front of four tops of pickets from a fence. They are held together with tiny hinges to form some sort of dividing screen. It is small but not small enough to be a room divider in a doll house, it’s definitely too big for that. It is painted white with a wash of blue on the top thirty or so percent to denote sky. There are three cacti painted on it. Two of the cacti are are tall ones, you know the ones that look like an official looks when he signals that the field goal is good and one of the short bushy kind that looks like it is made up of flat turtle shells. There are two humming birds hovering around the cacti. In front of the fence and beside the slice of yarn cake is a package wrapped in red paper with a goldenrod ribbon and bow tied around it. There are several varieties of pine sprigs gathered on the top, some tipped in silver and red glitter, along with two large red berries that are near the size of plums and one silver pine cone. Stuck to the glass shelf in front of the package are three of those silver peel and stick bows that you put on top of presents. Popping up from behind the package are four closed tulips that appear to be made from some kind of ceramic material. They have been covered in glossy white paint. Beside the package is a lamp that looks like a small traffic signal. The green light is on. On the top glass shelf above the tulips is a stuffed white rabbit with a pink nose and pink inside of its ears. But its ears are round not long, floppy gothic arch ears. It is wearing a hat similar to the one in those I WANT YOU Uncle Sam ads. But the stars are white on a blue background and they run along the vertical axis of the hat instead of around it in a band. The rabbit is wearing a navy blue jacket with red and white striped pants. Next to Uncle Sam Rabbit is a box with text indicating that it is:

“JESSIE’S FARM      PLUSH ANIMAL SET”

There is a bull on the left wearing an ivory sweater with pumpkin colored trim and an puffy tangerine tulip on the chest. To the bull’s left is a wolf wearing a lavender sweater with three puffy pink hearts attached to the chest. Next is a brown bunny with the proper gothic arch floppy ears wearing a light seafoam green sweater trimmed in banana yellow with a puffy purple tulip attached to the chest. On the far right is a baby rooster with blue eyes wearing a pink sweater with light blue trim and a puffy red and black ladybug on the chest. Beside the farm box is a large doll with yellow yarn hair wearing a not quite pink but also not quite red dress and cape. She also has ribbons tied in bows at the ends of her braids and they are also not quite pink and not quite red. I know that she is Little Red Riding Hood but her face and hair look like the slew of nursery rhyme illustrations that accompany the story of Little Bo Peep. But the sheep are far away and there is a wolf right beside her, so I am not sure what to think. Way, way up above Little Bo Riding Hood’s head is a small swing– the kind you make out of a two by four and two ropes. This one is painted black, ropes and all and on it sits a small doll that could be wearing a harlequin outfit or a genie costume. It is made from silky shimmery gold fabric. Down on the bottom beside the black sheep is a square planter with those glossy white tulips in it. There is an Ashford spinning wheel behind the black sheep. On the treadle is a small arrangement arrangement that resembles a topiary but it is a birdhouse made from florist’s foam that is cut into the shape of a cylinder type three-dimensional heart turned upside down. There is a twig sticking out of the hole in the heart and some spanish moss fall out of it as well. There is a female bluebird on the peak of the corrugated cardboard roof and a red icicle like the ones that some people put on their Christmas trees hanging off of its tail. At the base of the tree is a strip of that corrugated edging that teachers use to decorate their bulletin boards and it is standing on its skinny edge. Inside of the circle is more spanish moss and some pink and white impatiens. Next to the wheel is a multi-seater rocking bench made from skinny tree branches. The armrests are wrapped in pink and white and blue and white gingham. There is a stuffed lamb sitting on the rocking bench all alone. Not too far away is a large stuffed stork wearing real spectacles and a top hat. The pink ribbon band around his top hat has small wild animals in various pastel colors on it. green mouse, blue elephant, lavender zebra, yellow chickie. On the two bobbins of the spinning wheel are styrofoam balls with simple smiley faces painted on them in black. Each head is wearing a metallic blue hat with a silver band around it. Behind the spinning wheel is a silver basket with blue foil tissue paper in it. There are some round ornaments with snowflakes and crystal beads on them and a small figurine of a man in a red suit with long white hair, a long white beard and big bushy white eyebrows. He isn’t wearing spectacles and he doesn’t have a large bag with him. Above the sliver basket is another pot of droopy pink tulips but this pot contains eleven. Behind the tulips is a Raggedy Andy doll and next to him is Raggedy Ann. She is standing behind a small disco lamp that has multi-colored plastic lenses to turn a regular bulb into fuchsia, tangerine, teal and electric blue light. It is not turned on.

Junk Truck Collection

Italo American Social Club

This is a collection of newspapers and images that I photographed. The subject seems to be Italian American Idols. Actors, singers, boxers: Italian American Stallions.

I found this on Taylor and Peterson, Little Italy.

Tie a Ribbon

I know this might be familiar to anyone that has been in the 4th floor sculpture area.  But I kept thinking that it would be great for this assignment.  It is a collection of magnetic car decals that a student collected.  I am sure the student is making some short of political statement by arranging them on the back of this dismantled hatchback.  Not really sure what it is.

A Neighbor’s Handmade Goose Clothing Collection — Ryan Murray

The Goose in question, dressed for Halloween

Valentine’s outfit, Patriotic outfit, and Snowman outfit

Cubs jersey, Santa Claus, and Witch costume

Easter bunny, St. Patrick's day dress, Pilgrim, and "I don't fuckin' know" winter scarf

My neighbor has a goose statue on his porch to dress in different outfits that relate to the current season.  This is a sort of common house ornament, but his collection of goose clothes is special in two ways.  The first is that he is about the last guy on earth that you would imagine with a collection of goose clothes, and the second is that they are all handmade (crocheted) by his mother.  He’s very protective of his goose and does not tolerate any goose-related ridicule from the neighbors.  The goose also has a name, which I’ll withhold here for his (and the goose’s) internet-anonymity.

Rat Windows – Jesse McLean

I picked this collection of pest-related objects and pictures, because every time I walk by it I am fooled into thinking it’s an antique or thrift store. I’d like to go inside, then I realize it’s a extermination business and I (thankfully) have no reason for browsing their merchandise. The display of this store is a nice contrast to the fancy boutiques surrounding it on North Avenue in Wicker Park. I appreciate how the front windows are still used, even though I would guess their display doesn’t increase or decrease their business. I really enjoy the variety of pest depictions combined with pest control options. Alongside their actual products and the miniature rats, mice, bugs, beehive, possum (!) stand a protective cat, owl and strange inflatable thing.

While I was there I met an exterminator who said I could take pictures of the windows. He said they had been photographed before for an independent paper. He used to manage this branch but now “he takes it easy”, although being an exterminator doesn’t seem like a relaxing profession to me. Also, he went to UIC when it was on Navy Pier. Apparently, that was a very noisy campus. He told me the company was managed by a woman, which maybe was his reasoning for the windows but definitely was his explanation for the awesome bug cars. I had forgotten about them so that was a bonus. According to him, they are roomier inside than they appear. And, there are only green ones in Chicago but there’s a red ladybug and a yellow something-or-other in different cities.

Jazz’e Junque: Chicago’s 1st Cookie Jar Shop

Jazz’e Junque is a store at 1648 W Belmont Ave. that sells cookie jars and kitchenwares such as salt & pepper shakers, utensils, cookbooks, and aprons.  Most of the items on display are vintage cookie jars, but there are newer ones too, though there are usually one each on display even if they appear to be manufactured commercially.  Some of the cookbooks are new and likely to be purchaseable at bookstores, too.  But the store mostly has vintage collectibles: salt & pepper shakers, mugs, kitchen clocks, framed embroidery, etc.  The TV in the store was showing a black and white video of a very old talk show.  The kitchen cabinets and shelves there are vintage as well, but the lady told me she stopped purchasing them because she didn’t have any more room in the store.  She is really friendly and very enthusiastic about kitchen collectibles, especially retro ones.  She said she started collecting cookie jars but kept finding old electronics, and had become more interested in collecting them.  She has a collection of blenders, juicers, toasters, and waffle makers from the ’30s to the ’70s.  She calls the back corner of her store the “museum” because these appliances are not for sale.  Some of them have cloth cords and will burn when plugged in, but she must try out the newer ones because she told me how powerful they are.

The lady said she changes the display every 4 to 5 days.  Some sections are arranged thematically (Pirex, Fireking, Bakelite, Elvis, Pillsbury doughboy, Coca Cola, Flintstones, Snoopy, Christmas, cats, fat chef, etc.) and some are cordinated by colors or textures.

I’ve always wanted to visit this place ever since I saw it on Metromix.  I was having a hard time understanding the practice of collecting, but the store excited me a lot, probably because I like baking and spend a lot of time thinking about kitchenwares.  The items are not at all exhaustive and the owner is not trying to be, as she lets the lack of space restrict the number of the items.

*The store charges you $1 upon entry, refundable with purchase.

Lawn Cherubs in Hyde Park, Jeremiah Spofford

     

These lawn cherubs are chained to a fence at 5400 S Harper in Hyde Park.  A neighbor of the cherubs informed me that originally there were 6 but 2 were stolen in the dead of night.  I was drawn to them because they protrude out of the thick foliage with well pruned lawns on either side of them.

Food for Less (2620 N. Milwaukee Ave Logan Sq.)- olivia

Food for Less is located at 2620 N. Milwaukee Ave. (across form Chase bank and next to the Logan Square Blue line stop). The Ladies that run this shop are amazing, and so sweet to everyone that walks in the door. I remember they were the first people to welcome me to Chicago when I went in to get change for the “EL”. Deedee and her daughter Dawn both maintain the shop with another friend, but Dawn is the one who does the window displays tells Deedee. She told me Dawn went to AI for art and helps to keep the window of Food For Less new and interesting. Here are some snap shots from the most recent display. This week has been busy for the family, so there might be more to come soon. If you’re ever in Logan Square you should definitely check out their window display.

Raychael Stine: Assignment 2 Harold Washington Library Image Collection post. Ambiguous cold colored mountains that look like cold waves, and deserts that look like both.

I decided to go ahead an post the digital photos I took of my Harold Washington Library Collection. These are pretty bad pictures due to glare and camera position, but it is easy to see the consistency and ambiguity in the images.  I was intrigued by the continuous “S” curve that repeated throughout the pictures.  I was inspired to develop this collection by my general attraction to minimal desert and mountain shots, and my continual interest in color and repetitive composition.  I was also inspired by a misplaced image of a 1950′s black and white snow scape placed within the file Titled “Sand Dunes”.

Raychael Stine: Public Collections: 2 more interesting collections in business windows

I found a few collections and I decided to post them all since I found them and since my first found public collection is so small.

This is a store front collection of a business at 34th Street and Halsted in Bridgeport.  The business was closed and did not have a sign.  (I found the lack of sign odd, but maybe this shop closed permanently) I peered through the windows and saw that it looked like a taco place or some sort of fast food establishment. I found both of these collections while stopping for a bowl of sauerkraut soup to ease my cold at Healthy Food, The tiny, dusty and sweetly time-warped Lithuanian restaurant across the street.

In this public window display (apparently a taco shop) we have various antique machinery; two singer sewing machines, an old wooden radio, a camera box, scales, telephones, a type writer, a Telegraph machine (wow), a miniature Liberty bell, metal sculptures of cows and men golfing or working, made from industrial machine parts, Coke, White Sox, and Harley Davidson memorabilia, a tiny US Postal service mail box, a large black pin stating “I’m easy”, a WWF toy figure (possible bobble head doll?)–  All paired with a set of three long blond haired, pale skinned, Serape and sandal wearing sculpted figures with scary toothed faces, and a large red haired figure personifying death.

A few shops down from this window display is a Dog Grooming business.

The seasonal pairing of bloody hand prints and spiders with little figures of cute puppies. Right up my alley.

Collection 4: 1000 Block, W. Arlington Street

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This was shot quickly with a video camera as I went by on the way to lunch on Taylor street. I was not immediately happy with the results, the reflection and video glitches. I went by last week and considered re-taking the pictures but decided that these are an entirely accurate representation of my impression of walking by this collection. I am not interested in stopping for it, or any nick-nack window collection, and only notice them as quick visual impressions of kitsch as I pass by. Several of the stills I pulled make me ask “What is it?” and I have the same question of the collection. “What is it that this person is doing, what is it that drives one to set up ceramic kitsch in a window? What is it that has resulted in me needing to document it for a class?”
Overall projects 2, 3 and 4 have required me to break my routine and take up the routine of someone who is on foot, active in the city, someone who is engaged on a pedestrian level. I don’t like it at all. I limit my interactions with Chicago as much as possible, I took the train for a few months and gave it up when it took 50 min to go 3 miles. I live in Berwyn, in what is very close to a panoptic prison condo. I am an avowed suburbanite, happily cut off from my neighbors, an alien to my own community.

-a trowbridge

Raychael Stine: Public Collection Assignment 4. 3 Collections. Collection 1

I found this particular collection one afternoon a few weeks ago while exploring this neighborhood with my partner Titus. We go exploring to get to know bits of the city since we just moved here from Dallas in August. Here we have one stuffed Disney Mini Mouse Cheer Leader doll, a small red and marigold stuffed monkey or possible Lion, A small wooden crucifix with tiny Jesus attached, and a Disney-esque larger-than -life Chipmunk stuffy, complete with a melon sized halved apple.  It is presented with all items facing outward to the public with a window blind backdrop.  I was attracted to this tiny window surrounded and framed by pink…I personally like the reflection of the street sign in front of the chipmunk.

Paulina Street at 43rd Street

Jessica’s Western Wear, 7015 N. Clark St.

Java Thai – Andrew Oleksiuk

Java Thai: Neighborhood: Irving Park, 4272 W Irving Park Rd , (between Kildare Ave & Tripp Ave), near Irving Park blue line, Chicago, IL 60641, (773) 545-6200

Java Thai is a small eclectic local haunt and offers a mix of coffees, teas, Thai and American food, and desserts. The general ambience is more that of a small coffee shop than a restaurant. When its 12 tables are busy, the small mom and son (as far as I can tell) team can barely keep up. But the food is tasty, well prepared and nicely spiced if’n you like the asian chili sauce. We usually go there for nice breakfasts on bustling Saturday mornings. On this particular occasion I stopped in on a Friday late afternoon when it was nearly empty. – Andrew Oleksiuk

Very Small

Here is an online public collection sent to me by my friend who draws collectors (her website is www.laurennassef.com): http://www.verysmallobjects.com/

Crates and Barrels

A wonderfully trusting human being

Will Holder (an artist who appears to be based in the Netherlands) has not only listed the contents of his library but is allowing people to borrow books from it. He can even be contacted for online lending.

http://commonknowledge.at/

(posted by Marc Fischer)

Frank Film (1973) – Frank and Caroline Mouris

Academy Award Winner for Best Short Subject, Animated Film, Frank Film is the story of one man’s life told through his ever-growing collection of images.  (I apologize for the poor transfer quality)

Please enjoy.

Michael