Bender on the Beach

Yesterday the surf was really rough so all kinds of things washed up on the shore. My favorite finds were colorful and plastic. I know I "should" hate the garbage that washes up on the shore but I just can't. Yes, I hate it from an environmental standpoint, but from a creative standpoint I totally love it.  I started making and photographic faces on the beach with the stuff I collected. This one looks like one of my heros, Bender from Futurama. 

Found Wood Necklace

I'm trying to create jewelry that reflects my values, so all components have to be found/recycled or Fair Trade. I found the wood at the Brooklyn Botanical garden near Patrick Dougherty's wonderful woven wood sculpture.  It was a beautiful day with cherry petals swirling around like a pink snow globe. Yup, I stole a wood chip from the BBG as a little souvenir. I wanted to keep that all important wood chip integrity, so I just sanded it a bit, applied some lemon oil, gold leaf and attached the chain.

Newspaper Derby Hat

I made this hat out of newspaper and used hot glue, staples and tape to construct it. There is no hat underneath this hat! I was invited to a fancy Kentucky Derby party and didn't have a thing to wear. So I  made this hat and wore it with basic black. They had a contest for the best hat and I won a terrific dinner.

Keith Haring

I took this photo on July 13, 1982 at the Astor Place subway stop on my way to work. Last week I saw a similar piece in the Haring Show at the Brooklyn Museum. I used a Polaroid SX-70, the same kind of camera Keith used to take the self portraits at the beginning of this show. Seriously, two of my all time favorite things: street art and Polaroid SX-70 cameras. 

In 2012 you can see Keith's work in a museum. You can also buy a vintage SX-70 camera on Amazon and get film from the Impossible Project. But nothing can quite compare with the magic of finding this work in ordinary places back in the day. 

This week I got a little dose of the kind of magic I'm most fond of. Some wonderful people Occupied NYC with art on May Day and I found myself smiling like it was 1982.