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Are you ready to take the second floor this time? If you have no clue what I am talking about- read all about it here  The Second Floor Challenge

So today is our 5th Second Floor Challenge: Found Object

Click here to see what Julie did

Whatever that means to you or however it inspires you.  The prompt is simply meant to get you started.  The level of challenge you aim for is entirely internal and up to you.

Found Objects….Love them. What does this mean in the Art World?

Let me just quote Wikipedia: “A found object, in an artistic sense, indicates the use of an object which has not been designed for an artistic purpose, but which exists for another purpose already. Found objects may exist either as utilitarian, manufactured items, or things which occur in nature. In both cases the objects are discovered by the artist or musician to be capable of being employed in an artistic way, and are designated as “found” to distinguish them from purposely created items used in the art forms.”

But an found object could also just be something that you found!

My problem with found objects is, that I want to incorporate them in my work- but then I can’t get over me to use them. Because most of those objects are one of a kind findings at a flea market, a junk yard or something I have this “perfect moment” feeling. This leads to piles of stuff of objects that are desperately whispering “take me, take me!” yet….I am just ignoring it ;)

So the first floor was ….picking up stuff that I had in my pile of “found objects” to use. I didn’t make a huge effort – I simply picked the first three items I found on the pile.

Lightbulbs – mini lightbulbs, which i had found last in Australia at a junk yard, a little cross stitching hoop – I have no clue where this came from , and a vintage yarn spool which I found at a flea market in the States and says Kismet on the spool ends- FATE :)

I transfered some beautiful Prima Ledger Paper to a canvas fabric and then added the found objects on top of it, pit a frame on top and and knew I would love to give this my friend Katja who is a costume director and made me my favorite clothings in my wardrobe :) (If you are ever in Hamburg for longer and are looking for awesome tailored clothes – let me know !)

But what I didn’t know for two days before I glued it down, was…what else and which paint media I should add. It was taunting me. Every time I passed  the project walking by…I thought…”I like it- but mmmmhh what am I going to add to it?”. I took everything apart, arranged everything differently and yet…in the end I would end up with exactly the same design as before. And walk out of the studio, sighing again…

And then…I slapped my hand against my forehead hard today…still have some fingermarks…”Mc Fly…you like it as it is, so just glue all down and leave it” . It is OK to not use paint media (pssstttt….I used gel medium but don’t tell anyone ;) )

What I learned from this challenge:

1. It is ok to use stuff from the pile of found objects…it is not even noticeable that something is missing.
2. The frame hiding underneath a stretched canvas is a beautiful thing.
3. It doesn’t kill me to not use paint on a project.
4. Less is sometimes more
5. Projects like this are extremely hard to photograph– it looks so much better in real life …sigh
6. I am cheating and even lie in my blog post since I actually not used the first 3 things I found in the pile…my hand magically wandered over the Dresden dolls…because seriously they need to be on a really really cool project, I haven’t even dreamed of yet ;)

If you’d like to leave a link showing off what you did in response to this challenge, here’s the linky list:

add your own creations inspired by our 2nd Floor Challenge: Found Object