Family Closet

Family Closet

This is “Family Closet” an assemblage in an altered cigar box.  I bought the FAMILY paperweight from a thrift shop knowing I would somehow use it for the “Secrets” themed show.  I had all sorts of ideas but nothing was coming together until the wee hours before leaving on a vacation.  Around 3 am I blasted out of bed and into my studio to find just the right box for making into a closet with a shelf. That morning, I made the shelf & supports from another cigar box, the pole from a bamboo skewer and the first coat hanger from a paper clip.  The elements came together quickly but I had to wait until my return to do the real work.  When I returned it took me 2 long sessions to finish the closet.   It took me a long time to decide to take the box apart and re assembled it with a decorative marquetry paper for the outside.  I printed the skeleton and text about family secrets onto good bond weight paper and used it to wallpaper the  inside of the box.  Next the shelf, closet pole and additional paper clip hangers were installed.  To complete the piece I made the door stop iron carved from a wine bottle cork with a wire handle. It is approximately 7″ high x 5 wide and 2″ deep.

I was surprised and pleased to learn that Juror Ed Stitt, awarded me an “Honorable Mention” for  this piece.  All of Stitt’s thoughtful comments can be found on the  South Shore Art Center website.
This is what Stitt’s said about Family Closet:
The final honorable mention, and thus the one so close to winning a prize because of its excellence in production, beauty, and poignancy, is Mary Taylor’s “Family Closet.” Masterfully done, a pleasure to behold, truly makes me think and feel as one experiences it.

Bancroft Gallery, SSAC, Cohasset, MA
Secrets
Jan 11–Feb 17, 2013
Opening Reception 6 pm

Your Secret Is Not Safe With Me

YSINSWM Frontview

Artist’s book in a found bottle

Perhaps this isn’t the most interesting first post for a blog but it begins what I hope will become a blog that speaks to how an ordinary woman is “havingdoingbeing” ART.  The “havingdoingbeing”  part comes from an essay my father wrote some years ago about his life in his early 80’s, where he was discussing existentialism.  I’m not the philosopher he was but do wonder often  who am I? And what are we doing here?  So in the here and now I am Mary Taylor and I’m making art and with this blog I hope to share my ART.

Recently I was frustrated by a persistent litterbug and also thinking about creating a new art piece for a show themed “Secrets”.  The piece works for me but we will see if the piece works for juror Ed Stitt.  I created another piece for the show that will appear in a next post and I’ll announce the show information too.

My litterbug neighbor has been discarding his/her trash on my street for multiple years.  2 – 3x per week I pick up a paper bag with an empty pint, 2 empty nips of Smirnoff Raspberry Vodka, plus a crumpled up Lay’s potato chip (sour cream and onion) bag.  So from one of the discarded plastic pint bottles I added ad little book.   The text borders on a rant of curiosity about the litterbug and  I hope it comes across more as a snarky jab at the alcoholic litterbug that has a need to discard the evidence on my lovely side street.  I’ve notified the local police and even inquired at local liquor stores but to no avail my litterbug continues to toss the empties and quite likely is driving while inebriated.  I’ve toyed with the idea of making a wanted poster and putting it up over a trash barrel in the proximity of the trash but this is what I decided to created instead.

Update: “Your Secret Is Not Safe With Me”, did get juried into the show and is on view along with “Family Closet”

YSINSWM Booklet

Artist’s book in a bottle.

Bancroft Gallery, SSAC, Cohasset, MA
Secrets
Jan 11–Feb 17, 2013
Opening Reception 6 pm