Friday, 10 December 2010
A Collection a Day
An interview about collecting via etsy
Who are you? Lisa Congdon
What are you collecting? Everything I can get my hands on that is in some way beautiful or interesting
What do you love about collecting? The hunt!
When did you start collecting? With Madame Alexander dolls when I was only four years old.
How many collections do you have? Depending on how you categorize things, I have somewhere between 80 and 250 collections.
Tell us about your collection-a-day project. On January 1, 2010 I decided to start a blog project in which I would photograph — or occasionally draw or paint —and post one collection a day for every day for the entire year.
Why did you start the project? Since I was a young girl, I have been obsessed both with collecting, arranging, organizing, and displaying my collections. The project is my attempt to document my collections, both the real and the imagined. I embarked on this project because I love my collections, and wanted to document them in a way that makes sense to me. I'm happy to share them with whoever might be interested.
Where do you find your collections? I frequent flea markets, thrift stores, junk shops, garage sales, giveaway piles, and family attics to find new additions to my collections.
Where do you keep them? Just a few are on display in my house, but most are filed away in envelopes and boxes in my art studio.
Which collections is your favourite and why? My favorite is probably my eraser collection. I mean, who collects used erasers? But they are so special, and each eraser has a story I will never know.
What’s an interesting story behind one of your collections? People might be interested to know how I began collecting vintage school supplies. Seventeen years ago, I got my first teaching assignment in a fourth grade classroom. I took over for a teacher who had just retired after 40 years. He had so many old materials and supplies in his room! They were too old and out of date to use, so I asked the principal if I could keep whatever we didn't throw in the dumpster. She said it was okay and I got some real gems from that classroom. It was the beginning of one of my oldest collections.
What do you think attracts folks to collections? I think people enjoy the sense of nostalgia and connection that comes from collecting.
What is it about your fabulous project that you think draws others in? I think the nostalgia I mentioned is part of it; most of my collections are vintage things. People love the vintage typography and packaging too. But I also think people are drawn to the arrangement of mostly everyday objects in an interesting way, especially how they are photographed.
What else do you collect? Some of my other favorite collections are mid-century kitchenware from Scandinavia and Japan, and I also love the old handwritten letters I've collected for my ephemera collection. I have so many amazing collections that it's hard to choose a favorite.
What collections would you like to add? I'd like enough mid-century Danish furniture to furnish my entire house.
So Christmas is upon us. Every year I cannot work out whether I love it or hate it. Christmas has so many meaning to each of us. To me it's family time and a break from work, cheesy songs and a few drinks too many. Irish coffee or "fluffy ones" as we like to call them. Trying to help Mum in the kitchen and promptly being told to "get lost, you're getting in the way!". Naps in the afternoon and watching The Snowman. Home Alone and A Christmas Carol. As a child we had "Christmas Extravaganza" on Boxing Day at my Grandma's, playing a song on guitar or magic tricks. Everybody clapped and seemed so happy. Opening our presents and lots of hugs. Making presents, making cards. Christmas was crafty.
Somehow, along the way I think I began to lose that. I began to feel that Christmas was just for kids and that it had become a materialistic event. A symbol of capitalism. I have started arguments about presents, or the giving of money. I once really upset my Nana because she tried to give me money as she didn't know what to buy me, I didn't want her money, I thought it was best spent on herself. It was rude and now I reflect on it, I regret it. I had an opinion on money and of a "gift", I upset a dear family member because Christmas had become about the presents.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
So now, I'm stuck between seeing the beautiful feeling of Christmas and the sinister side of capitalism. I do really look forward to it, but why must it be such a stressful time? Buying the perfect gift is something that really gets into my head. I want the recipient to know how I've thought about it, how their present reflects how I feel about them. It never used to be like this. I used to make all my presents.
Maybe that's what I need to start doing again.
Get back to simpler times.
10 days update #1
I think it would be a nice idea to keep a bit of a video diary fro my project. Slightly scary though, I'd imagine it would all be like "errrr" and "ummm" all the time. Not easy viewing. I think I'll have a go anyways once I know exactly what it is I'm doing.
I'd quite like to have a go at everything really. Random Acts of Kindness, 100 days (well less than 100 days) to make me a better person, Join Me and other similar projects as well as my own creations.
No doubt I'll be carrying this on into my live project. I'm not sure yet, but I'm really really excited about this project.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
100 Days to Make Me a Better Person
"In her inimitable affirmative-action-hero style, Josie Long has been leading a group of comedians, writers and musicians on a brand new scheme: a hundred day mission to make everyone a little friendlier, stronger, fitter, wiser or just plain jollier.
One Hundred Days to Make Me a Better Person is an online project which launched on 1st Dec 2009 and runs until 10th March 2010. The premise is simple. Pick one thing to do that you can do once each day that will make your life better. Then do it. For one hundred days.
Like a cinema-verité, Why-Don’t-You advent calendar, over 840 initiates have signed up online, made a pledge and have been extremely busy documenting their efforts, sharing them with the world through the site, on Facebook and Twitter, building a wonderful online community of betterment. Over 85 sites have been set up devoted to chronicling this project.
Alongside some hugely inventive public pledges (‘kissing in front of a different London landmark,’ ‘a Facebook cull,’ ‘leaving post it notes in public,’ ‘jogging art,’) Josie has been talking to a ‘new’ stranger each day, and pledging to write at least one new joke.
The Fence Collective’s The Pictish Trail has been penning one new song each day, and comic Sara Pascoe has been resurrect the art of letter writing. Darkly comic author Chris Killen is offering help to anyone who requests it and generally being a superhero; and musical stand-up and Peep-show star Isy Suttie is working on a special artwork to be auctioned on the 100th day.
The 100th day – 10 March 2010 – will be marked with a live event as part of London Word Festival. It will be a monumental celebration of betterment in a secret East London location. A top-drawer line up, with The Pictish Trail, Isy Suttie, Chris Killen, Alex Horne (via video), Sara Pascoe and more. There’ll be a museum of 100 days for all the wonderful creative work to be displayed, and all sorts of jiggery-pockery and with surprises in store for those attending who have participated."
via London Word Festival
One Hundred Days to Make Me a Better Person is an online project which launched on 1st Dec 2009 and runs until 10th March 2010. The premise is simple. Pick one thing to do that you can do once each day that will make your life better. Then do it. For one hundred days.
Like a cinema-verité, Why-Don’t-You advent calendar, over 840 initiates have signed up online, made a pledge and have been extremely busy documenting their efforts, sharing them with the world through the site, on Facebook and Twitter, building a wonderful online community of betterment. Over 85 sites have been set up devoted to chronicling this project.
Alongside some hugely inventive public pledges (‘kissing in front of a different London landmark,’ ‘a Facebook cull,’ ‘leaving post it notes in public,’ ‘jogging art,’) Josie has been talking to a ‘new’ stranger each day, and pledging to write at least one new joke.
The Fence Collective’s The Pictish Trail has been penning one new song each day, and comic Sara Pascoe has been resurrect the art of letter writing. Darkly comic author Chris Killen is offering help to anyone who requests it and generally being a superhero; and musical stand-up and Peep-show star Isy Suttie is working on a special artwork to be auctioned on the 100th day.
The 100th day – 10 March 2010 – will be marked with a live event as part of London Word Festival. It will be a monumental celebration of betterment in a secret East London location. A top-drawer line up, with The Pictish Trail, Isy Suttie, Chris Killen, Alex Horne (via video), Sara Pascoe and more. There’ll be a museum of 100 days for all the wonderful creative work to be displayed, and all sorts of jiggery-pockery and with surprises in store for those attending who have participated."
via London Word Festival
Pretty Cool People Interviews - Miranda July
Learning To Love You More
Learning to Love You More is both a web site and series of non-web presentations comprised of work made by the general public in response to assignments given by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. Yuri Ono designed and managed the web site.
Participants accepted an assignment, completed it by following the simple but specific instructions, sent in the required report (photograph, text, video, etc), and their work got posted on-line. Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments was intended to guide people towards their own experience.
Since Learning To Love You More was also an ever-changing series of exhibitions, screenings and radio broadcasts presented all over the world, participant's documentation was also their submission for possible inclusion in one of these presentations. Presentations have taken place at venues that include The Whitney Museum in NYC, Rhodes College in Memphis, TN, Aurora Picture Show in Houston, TX, The Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, WA, the Wattis Institute in San Francisco CA, among others.
From 2002 to it's close in 2009, over 8000 people participated in the project.
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Monday, 6 December 2010
Sunday, 5 December 2010
FCKH8.com: Straight Talk on Gay Marriage (OFFICIAL)
I wonder exactly how many people were offended at this video?
Brilliant!
Josie Long - Stand Up - Fancy Dress
I saw Josie Long at the Outspoken Showcase on Monday. She is fucking funny!
Snow Fun :)
This is the first snowman I have ever made with my Dad. It only took 24 years :)
I've been going home quite often lately. You don't realise how much you need your family sometimes.
Knittering
We have decided that we will start the Knit Club in January, once Christmas is out of the way and I've caught up on all of my projects.
Until then, Sofia and I will be meeting up to refine our knitting skills, eat lots of cake and drink lots of tea. I'm tee-total at the moment and it is DRIVING ME CRAZY, which is slightly worrying.
I need to find some wholesome ways to spend my time. Sobriety may turn into something brilliant. I hope.
I want to make pretty things with bows on like these:
Until then, Sofia and I will be meeting up to refine our knitting skills, eat lots of cake and drink lots of tea. I'm tee-total at the moment and it is DRIVING ME CRAZY, which is slightly worrying.
I need to find some wholesome ways to spend my time. Sobriety may turn into something brilliant. I hope.
I want to make pretty things with bows on like these:
via kaboodle
via oh joy
I really like oh joy's blog :)
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