~calamity strange~

.where were you hiding?.

i know you’ve already seen plenty of photos of this one, but after so many questions about these boxes and the contents therein, i figure i might as well explain them.

this another of my found object assemblage pieces currently on display at chimera arts in santa cruz. from the heretics and heathens show april 1 - may 28, 2011

also made entirely from things i owned and have unearthed out of the nooks and crannies where i hide and store all the little things i collect.

this one, a self-portrait of sorts- from memories of my childhood. made from:

• a wooden box that i constructed to store seeds for the garden years ago- my first independent carpentry project…. i think i was 19 at the time.
• my madame alexander doll (scarlett o’hara: circa 1970-ish) who’s legs i replaced with larger ones from a different dime-store doll, in order to better reflect my physical dimensions.
• my grandmother’s sheet music.  she was a professional pianist, trained at the new england conservatory of music. i have boxes and boxes of that fabulous paper.
• keys from my grandparents house, and from the many turn-of-the-century furnishings with built-in locks that inhabited the space that i explored on secret missions so many years ago.
• the figurine of one of my uncle jim’s sports trophies. 
• a sterling silver baby spoon from my seemingly endless collection of family heirlooms.
• a photograph of my my grandparents with my mother and her brother, taken in 1947 at their home in mansfield, ohio.
• a skull collected from the utah desert.
• a metal printmaking stamp with an image of a temple on it- that i discovered, tucked away in a junk store in athens, greece.
• bullet shell casings, collected from a variety of places.
• vintage bottles- (i have a ton of them).
• an artificial rose.
• a bicycle chain ring.
• and two antique nails through the palms of her hands.

©kelley richardson 2o11