Field Trip to Salem!

Hey Beautiful People! Long time no blog, eh? I have been pretty well entrenched in a big website project for the past few weeks, but came up for a little bit of fresh air today to drive down to Salem to meet my collaborators Ezra and Jin Joo (and of course their mother Shannon) for the "What's Inside" show I blogged about a few weeks ago.

This is gallerist Mary Lou Zeek's annual 100 Artists Show where she invites people to create a piece with a single found object, and proceeds go to a worthy charity in the Salem area. This year it was a flat wooden box that opened with a hinge to expose its inside. I have participated in this show several times and really appreciate the effort Mary Lou puts into this.

For those of you who need a refresher, We were asked to collaborate with a child between the ages of 3 and 12, and ask them the folowing questions:

1. When you are scared, what makes you feel safe?
2. What does it feel like to feel powerful?
3. What secret wish do you have that would make the world a better place?
4. If you could change one thing in your world what would it be?

click here to see that original posting that has images of my piece.

I have never made it down to see any of the shows, but am really glad I did this time. It was a blast sharing the whole project with Ezra and Jin Joo, and Mary Lou was great about taking things off the wall and opening them, showing us how they worked, and telling us some of the stories that inspired the other children asked to participate with the artists.

The artist apparently forgot the "g" in the middle of the first word on the box, but the new meaning is pretty humorous too. Sorry I don't have names for some of these pieces, but if you are really interested, Mary Lou Zeek's website has the entire show online. Click here to see it.

This piece had a counter inside so when you opened it, a Rube Goldbergian string mechanism would advance the counter one number.

This one is by Chris Giffin, whose opening at Guardino Gallery I'll be attending tomorrow. The heart is a removable brooch.

This one was an incredible amount of work--there was a series of about 7 or 8 different latches that kept opening into smaller sections. This is the piece entirely open, where you saw a mirror.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the front of this one too, it was one of the few photographic pieces in the show. The artist took a picture of nine kids from above, all of whom were in cardboard boxes.

The inside of this box had this simple list of things a park should have. I bet this was their answer to the question about how you would make your world a better place. For some kids, (and dogs I've known) it's all about the park!

There was a really nice little book made from all of the work in this show. You can purchase it online for around $30 at blurb.com. Click here to go to their site.


This was made by Tomas Sarvda, an artist whose work I own--and blogged about! Thank you Mary Lou for spending so much quality time with us. (And congratulations on a nearly sold-out show! Thanks out there to whoever bought mine!) We had a great time. I'll leave you with an image of Jin Joo who made this great piece with the Zolo set at the gallery.