Dumpster Delights

It probably doesn't surprise anyone that if I see a Dumpster (or just a pile of stuff on a curb) I rubber-neck to a dangerous degree.  If I'm biking, I'll stand up on my pedals or just jump right in with my helmet still on.  Generally, if there's anything good in there, I huff it home, grab the truck, and bee-line it back to the honey hole...with gloves, if I remember.

This summer and fall proved quite fruitful for all things Dumpster and curbside.  My shed is already really packed, but that doesn't stop me!  I took some booty pics of my adventures, but not all of them.

After hitting two INCREDIBLE Dumpsters on Holmes.  One was full of clean pieces of
MDF, the other had lots of dirty pieces of wood from a bathroom tear-out and porch demo,
along with adorable picket fence posts and even a boardgame.

Look at this beautiful chippy porch ceiling!

Cut down pieces of the picket fence for small lady faces

From an alley near 31st and Cherry...more clean lumber and plywood!

From 33rd and Troost.  A brick building was getting demolished and there was lots
of loose, wrecked lumber everywhere.  These pieces had the best story with
nicks and paint, so home they came.

And tonight in Mission, Kansas, I took an early turn  on my way to my cousin's house
and found a Dumpster FULL OF PERFECTLY GOOD STERILITE BOXES.  WITH LIDS!!

They're a little grimey but I can deal with that.

I didn't get pictures of the great group of stuff I found in a Dumpster in Janssen Place (the super fancy sub division in the middle of my 'hood with $1M+ mansions), but it included 500 Kodak slides from the 1960s, interesting household things and planters, and some homemade drawers/boxes that I was able to break down and use in my art as backgrounds.  The neighbors walking by were happy I was recycling and thought someone was cleaning out a basement.  Fine by me!

I also got a truckload of lumber from a rehab near 36th and Cherry that included super long-ass boards and pieces of a burned garage.

Square One studio at 31st and Holmes occasionally puts out free wood and MDF panels under a big sign that says "FREE WOOD" and I hit the mother lode this summer.  I could barely get all the 4 x 8 foot pieces in the truck, especially since I now have the camper shell.  I only took what I could lift myself, but that was about 8 whole panels that I had to break down into four pieces each before I could fit them in my shed.  This is what my desk clocks are made of and I have enough material to last a lifetime now!

Oh!  Almost forgot the pile of wood and metal rods at Armour and Holmes that I walked back to my house on top of my head (don't do that, even a few blocks will mess you UP!) and the neighbor who gave me his entire 100+ year old staircase (with risers!).  

Right place, right time.  I do regret that I couldn't get back to an apartment building that my friend used to live in at McGee and 41st that was getting razed, but you have to triage your time, and I was on my way to Omaha.

A Sterilite box saved is a Sterilite box earned!

Back to Art

After a few weeks of working on clocks and padding my inventory for the first show of the season (Oklahoma City--one of my favorites!!), I'm back to working on "non-functional" art.  The lumber here is salvaged from a home in my neighborhood.  I put out a call on our 'hood's Facebook page for wood from the old homes around here.  A neighbor said I could come and get his staircase...I literally took almost all the 100+ year old wood that the contractor left, plus some new lumber the guy was just going to burn to get out of the way.  MAJOR SCORE!

Add some paint, take away some paint with a sander, and here's what I have to work with today.  I've been cutting my orzo slices (I don't know what to call them...crescents? fronds?) and we'll see what the muses whisper in my ear.

Rusty and Dirty!

I let my Etsy shop for The Retro Ranch kind of slide over the last year, but lately I've been trying to restock it and physically get my stuff all gathered together and organized in my storage area (shhh..it's my basement).  Upon moving the inventory from one spot to another to another, I've rediscovered some finds and am excited to share them with the world!  Here are just a few of my newest listings, in all their farm fresh glory...

Way old bottle!

Stop those radiator leaks with chemicals!

String it up.

Instant collection.

The texture of the handles makes me crazy--I love the wear and tear.

Why I don't have Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals

I don't often put my work on sale because I can't afford to.  Instead of spending my time setting up sales, promoting those sales, and hoping this will somehow bring thousands of dollars my way, I try to just make work that I like and maybe someone else will see its value.

This is my nightmare:

Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters

Unlike Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and all those other convenient chain retailers, I don't have a board of directors, stock market presence, or a plan to expand to eighty new locations over the next five years.  

Also, I don't pay my over-seas workers pennies a day to make plastic junk that will fall apart in no time.  I have no employees. 

I keep my overhead low by using cast-offs and salvaged materials.  The components I do buy, I try my hardest to keep them sourced in America--my clock mechanisms are American made and cost a bit more, but I feel that's worth it.  My aluminum is American-sourced and purchased in my hometown, so my family can pick it up and we can meet in the middle for regular visits only 30 minutes from my home.  We'd be doing this anyway, so we're not adding any extra shipping costs to the metal.

I work out of my home, so my commute is by foot, about ten feet from my bed, and I save on heating by having a cat on my lap (right now!).  This offsets my long road trips to out of town shows, so I feel at least a little less guilty filling up my tank.

So what I'm saying is, I can't afford to have enormous discounts on my work, even with all my own efforts to cost-cut and be frugal day to day.

I have too many ideas in my head to give away the things I make with my hands.  I'm happy to clear out older work and experiments/sketch pieces during my normal shows, and, yes, my show schedule is heavier as we near the winter holidays, so these coincide. But I'm not into all the hype.  

WITH THAT BEING SAID...

My final showing of the year is this weekend.  I'm in the company of four other wonderful artists and am excited to meet more Kansas City area art lovers.  So here's my plug for in-person, art-buying opportunity from me, the artist who makes the things you will see.

3rd Annual Holiday Art Sale at Meya Studio
3345 Baltimore Ave., KCMO
FRIDAY, DEC. 5, 6-9PM
SATURDAY, DEC. 6, 10AM-6PM
SUNDAY, DEC. 7, 11AM-5PM

Discounted transitional pieces, oldies but goodies, new desk clocks, all the wall clocks you could ever want, plus ceramics, glass jewelry, fine art paintings, and funky paper cuts and mixed media.

Also, hot rum and cider, beef stew, brownies, wine, and OMG JUST COME ON BY!

Here's us last year as we were wrapping up:

Amy Meya, Allan Winkler, Laura Nugent, and Desiree Warren
It was an average 15 degrees all weekend, so we were cold...but this year it will be much warmer!

If you want to buy online, my Etsy store will be open and updated as much as possible.  I've been working on loads of desk clocks that are not only perfect for gifting, but easy to ship and pretty economical! 

Happy Cold Time of the Year, Art Lovers!

Completely Random Things

I've been neglectful, so here's some random stuff!

Been listening to a lot of The Beatles lately.

This illustration is ridiculous.  Poor Ringo.

Experimenting more.

Salvaged wood, acrylic paint, fabric paper, vinyl, gel medium

5 x 7 matboard, used tea bag paper, paint, vinyl

Dreaming about a larger studio so I can more fully realize all my artistic endeavors.

This would be an adorable little backyard studio if it was
in my price range and my backyard was bigger...
Not a lot of room here in the heart of the city.

Prepping for the Loring Park show in lovely Minneapolis.

From last year's show in this amazing park next to the Walker Art Center.

Making lots of table top clocks.

I love making these.  I'm going to try to have a huge back stock for the holidays.

Eating a lot of ice cream, especially when I'm on the road.

Sweet glorious bowl of heaven from Des Moines's (Pleasant Hill to be more accurate) Over the Top.
Go there.  Go there now.

Found It: Kansas City Street Art

This summer I pedaled around The Crossroads art district here in KC and documented some of the lovely/ugly street art that fills the alley walls.  Some of it is by professional artists (Scribe) and some by your run-of-the-mill taggers.  I'm working on before and after shots from some images I took several years ago, but that's more of buildings and the development of the Power and Light District downtown.

In the alley across from the old Arts Incubator.

Ooh!  So political!



 


 

One of my favorites.



 


 

No, thanks.
Behind the old Coffee Girls space.

I've seen this shell painted on stuff several miles away.

"You spelled it wrong!" ORLY, Smartypants?

Across from Succotash, Holms Rd.

A good one to end on.  I never could find my name on a souvenir coffee mug,
but sometimes you can find it on a wall.