FOR THE LOVE OF BUGS

Photo detail of  art aseemblage Home by Elizabeth Gordon

I have been in love with bugs as long as I can remember.  My Mother the biologist and science teacher invited us into her classroom when she invited us into the world.  She told us stories of insect, gave them names and explained how they lived and the good they did for us all.  She told us how important they were to the world through her stories.  Grandaddy Long Legs who lived in the bath tub, who would pop down the spout only to pop up again after water drained out.  The doodle bugs who live in Mississippi dirt and made holes in the ground. There is even a childrens saying...Doodle bug, doodle bug, your house is on fire....  She taught us how to catch Black Widow Spiders safely at young age.  We learned about ant hills and had ant farm so we could watch how industrious they were.  My brother had a wonderful butterfly collection and many after noons were spent in the Mississippi woods with a net in hand and a little sister following.  There were lessons on preserving and pinning butterflies and so many many things.  I wish everyone could have had our childhood in that way.  A most memorable part of my early education was when I was about 5 years old and my Mother was finishing up her Masters Degree.  My brother and I would go with her to Mississippi State on Saturdays and spend the day while she was in classes.  Our favorite place was the natural history department and display hall.  And yes thee were insects galore!  

As I went on in life those lessons never left me.  Insects continued to fascinate me and still do.  I learned about the art of Joseph Cornell and others who used insects in their work and realized I could too.  I studied the work of Nancy Graves whose Father was an Archeologist and the influence it had on her work. More recently I have become aware of the work of Christopher Marly who uses insects totally in his work.  As I researched more I became aware that insects have been used in art for centuries...more by painting or the use of their properties for making colors in paints that the actual insect.  

But for me, it is the love of the insect..whether by transfer, drawing or the actual preservation of the actual insect.  I just love insects and the huge variety, shape and color of the species.

Artist who uses insects

Collage/Pieces of our Lives

Collage

Is oft thought of as a sub class to painting, drawing and sculpture. It is truly interesting that part of the art world has taken that position with its wonderful rich history. I have loved collage most of my life. I think it actually started with watching my Mother put together family photo's with clipping out bits of embroidery or lace to enhance the presentation. I can remember how carefully she would set aside pieces of her favorite bits of material and thoughtfully arrange each vignette. I watched with awe, and remember thinking I didn't know you were allowed to combine photographs with other things. I had not seen it done in anyone else's home or other place. It was unique to me and seemed to allow me to think differently.

Africa is not always given its due to the history of collage. Picasso is given credit and Braque, but it is not always mentioned that Picasso drew many of his influences came from African art. Rauschenberg, Johns, Cornell were artist who brought collage into the modern art world. Now it is a mainstay trending over to assemblage and all types of mixed media and found object collage. Curators and judges no longer cast an eye of disdain, as in the past, but have accept video artists, installations and other innovations.

The history of art is change, innovation, and exploration. Bright colors were thought to be a horror is certain periods of art, impressionism was thought unskilled art, and Van Gogh's work was not accepted in his life time. So art is meant to be in constant evolution and more that the realistic representation of a scene or object. Art is meant to challenge us, make us think, and to inspire discovery and exploration.

For me collage and assemblage are the archeology of the present and future. There will be a time when people study our objects for hints of how we lived as a civilization. I love old, worn, used, touched, lived with objects: they speak to be of times just past and times present that are moving into the past. It is the visual poetry of our lives, our beings journey in time. We leave a mark, we leave evidence we were here, we worked, we lived, and we existed on this earth at this time.

Joseph Cornell/One of the Pioneers of the Assemblage

Cornell's Universe

Joseph Cornell's boxes were worlds unto themselves.

They were dreams and poetry all wrapped up together. Here is another website with photographs of a large number of

Cornell's boxes. I find a common love of old things, but not because it was garbage, but because these bits of the past are precious and things once loved and treasured. They speak to us like time travelers who reach into our world of the future and say, " I once was special, I once was held and adored". Perhaps it is nostalgia when we see something that is aged to sepia tones or crumbling a bit on the edges, or just rusted a bit...but what ever it is, these things that are fading away into another time can be appreciated and revered for what they were. They can teach us lessons if we but listen. I think that is the world I share with Cornell. When you look at his boxes, remember all the art shows, galleries, and artist you have seen-any where you see an artist that has used a box, an assemblage , or collage Cornell's influence is there.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cornell/(clickable in right hand column Websites of interest)

Joseph Cornell/The Artists Artsit

Joseph Cornell

I want you to get to know one of my favorite artist and influences in mixed media art. Cornell was one of the first artists to use the box as his canvas for art. He built miniature worlds inside old boxes with scrapes of paper and found objects. He rarely sold his work, but gave it to friends and family. His work is like visual poetry and also a bit like a dream world. His work was collected for years by other famous artists. After his death his work was salvaged by well known NYC artists and stored in a warehouse so that would not be lost. Now you find his work at MOMA and the Chicago Art Institute among other places. I will post more articles and images for you to enjoy and for us all to share. Cornell has influenced every artist, whether they know it or not, that has used boxes, collage, assemblage, or found objects in the making of art. He is not widely known, but his influence is considerable.

http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/poster/poster.html(clickable form in websites of interest column on right hand side of the blog.