Community Art Project #2: Out Of Context / The Pulse of The Page

I was invited to create a piece for the Goodnow Library's sesquicentennial anniversary 

---that's 350 years of loaning books to the townsfolk.  The idea of making this a community project was mine.  

It was interesting to watch as kids and adults thumbed through various used books --- poetry, dictionaries, picture books, textbooks, manuals, novels.  All participants were amused, some were even giddy. Their cropped text selections ran from serious to silly. Participants were also given the option to underline, highlight or black-out words. Except for an adolescent's scrawled signature, there was no editing of the anonymous out-takes.

Shims held the words and spines.

I constructed the 2'x4'x1"substrate.

                             

Fitting all the pieces together was tricky in part due to varying book spine widths.

     

                                    Out of Context

The Pulse of The Page

The words we read pulse through us.

These words seep in,

promote laughter, tears, change 

… as does the red, pulsing within us

---providing life.

Cathleen E. Bradley

*I have a memorable relationship with libraries. Aside from borrowing stacks of books since I was a pipsqueak, I can claim TWICE being locked in --- once on the west coast as a teen and then again, on the east coast, decades later. Both incidences were accidental. 
Two points for not letting dim lighting interrupt my ability to focus!   

Re-Construction Gives New Function

1" thick, century-old timber salvaged from a farm-cart box was my inspiration. Creative eyes saw the original paint's horizon line with a sun setting over the water. 

 teapot with attitude (SOLD)

Inspirational piece was a vintage shipping crate which carried Funk & Wagnall's
to a farm in Maine. 

Louis Armstrong sings, My Heart

One from my new series: The History of Round

Vintage record song title: Have I Talked To You Lately (SOLD)

RIFFING ON GUITARS

Salvaged roadside guitars were measured, traced, cross-sectioned and chopped.
A friend gutted her dead piano and I was gifted with a huge bag of piano hammers.  Vintage furniture limbs and sundry household implements made the cut for repurposing in these sculptural assemblages.  These high-flying, stringless instruments are available for anyone to play.  Exhibiting now at Sudbury School of Music.

Guitano II: Running at The Mouth, by Cathleen Bradley

I don't type very well so ...

Louie Armstong is scattin' in the center

Guitano 1: Play Me Another, by Cathleen Bradley

Game on!

Stay tuned for more riffs.

Doggy gets into the act, too. (photo by Paige)

Now Exhibiting ...

... accepted in the 2013 Frances N. Roddy Competition / Concord Art Association, Concord MA.  / exhibiting 'til October 13  /  juried by Nick Capasso, director Fitchburg Art Museum  (formerly of deCordova Art Museum).

Window Shopping

My goods are now gracing the storefront window in the Drawing Room
at Anthi Frangiadis Associates.  This one-stop shop for Architecture / Interiors / Planning now houses my pillows, a lamp, a fowl-playhouse, found-object sculptures, assemblage constructions and more.  If you are in the Cape Cod area, please take time for a lovely coastal drive to 11 Spring Street, Marion MA to check it out for yourself.

CB's goods in the Drawing Room at Anthi.

Students in the Studio

The summer art sessions in studioCB have proven once again that stretching one's imagination and thinking creatively rules over prepackaged art kits any day.

Kids, ages 9-16, have been designing, drawing, print-making, drilling, cutting,  hammering, measuring and re-imagining.

One student's exploration of replicating an object using 6 different mediums.

Sam's Walldoll measures almost 3'.
He learned to use a small hand drill
and to wire parts together for a
strong hold.

Lauren's wall sculpture was inspired by  women's vintage headwear.

Leather boots started from cardboard and styrofoam,
by Serena and Erin.

Ben's eye-full includes piano parts and leather.

A 10 year old found her groove mixing it up with paint, pastels, pens, pencils, and a tissue dress pattern. 

Bubble wrap and water colors created the blue and lavender polkadot blossom.

Colored pencils, black ink art pens, crayon pastels and a perforated kitchen tool  template.

Layers, layers, layers!

A steady hand holding a black ink art pen made this pink and orange posy pop!

US Flag / Assemble Your Own

Why buy Old Glory when you probably have stuff around the house to make your own.

Frame and Substrate:  Old window shutter minus the slats , piece of MDF
             Mixed Media: old books, building blocks, postage stamp, bingo game, music sheets, random hardware, ruler, license plates, left-over scraps from prior art projects, leather, furniture and architectural remnants
Tools: bandsaw, hammer, nails, wood glue, screws, hand-drill and bits, sand paper, ruler

Old Glory II

Red, white and ...

... blue

Repurpose a Wooden Box

               Old wooden, weathered window boxes get a new license on life
----along with all the rescued and repurposed paraphernalia that now dress them.

All for sale last weekend of June in Marion MA,  SEMAX sale.

Nothing is safe from reuse

Former garden gate and rescued plate team up.
.

Sitting pretty, with or without a purpose, really.

Cracked bat hits a home run and offers a grip 

.

Spring in the Studio

 

I'm still working with my stash of century-old farming implements.   After years of being stashed in a dusty barn attic, the lengthy tapered timber was cut,  delicately cleaned and then varnished to show-off the original layers of bold paint.
 Now gleaming and repurposed into sculptural assemblages, the timber's old farmyard counterparts ---mules perhaps, just might be jealous of their counterparts' new lease on life. If only the barn's walls could talk ...

Renoir Tea

Joy-ride

Barnyard View

Gardner's Tea II

Finally seeing the light of day, this quartet is off to the FIne Art and Fiddle Fest !

 Sudbury Art Association will be well represented this Friday and Saturday May 17-18, 2013,

Wayside Inn.  Should be a lively and colorful feast for the senses: music / food / art /sunshine

Earl Grey: Teapot by way of Found-Object Assemblage

 Teapot #4 .  Repurposing tough old timber cut from a long, tapered farming implement.

Earl Grey, 

Found-objects, polished and repurposed

A tall deluxe grande

High octane, 

A cup of tea to start your engine before you head out the door