The Face is the Place!

Small sculplture with a face made from a flattened spoonI’ve decided to start a new category in this art quilt blog about quirky things that I like that I either own or see. After all, what’s the fun in being an artist, if you can’t be a little unusual. I find out a long time ago that simply by declaring myself to be an “arteest” that I could get away with a lot more eccentricities than the average person allows themselves. So, the title of this new category is simply “Quirky Things”.

The final photo in the last blog was of a face jug from North Carolina, so I thought I’d follow up with the “face” theme in that posting by starting in the first blog in this “Quirky Things” category with this photo of a delightful sculpture that I got at a street festival out in Berkeley, California, USA, about 10 years ago. I don’t know the name of the artist, as I would love to give her credit, but while looking on Google images to try and find her. I was incredibly surprised to find what people do with spoons. If you’d like to see some of these delightfully quirky things,look on Google images for “faces made from spoons“. Ah, human ingenuity!

This small piece in the photo, (9” or 23 cm total height x 4″ or 10 cm total width) has as it main component a flattened spoon for the face. Extensions with clapper bells have been added to the head and “ears” so that if you shake the spoon, the bells clang. The face, with its impertinent tongue sticking out in defiance was just too funny for me not to purchase. It was one of those things that I just had to buy, even though the guy I was with thought I was nuts. (I pulled the “but I’m an artist!” card , so he stopped his protests. I might add that he didn’t last very long….he just didn’t get me.)

Oil and vinegar pitchers with faces and an angel vaseContinuing with the “faces” theme, here are some small oil and vinegar pitchers that I think I was given as a gift. To give you a sense of scale, the pitchers o either side of the photo are 6.5″ or 16.5cm x 3″ or 7.5 cm wide. Their delicate porcelain features subtly protrude from the surface of the face. The pieces, while functional, are way too fragile to actually use at the table, so they live in a closed cabinet to keep them from being batted around by kitty paws looking for something new to play with. The “angel” sculpture, has delightfully pierced features in the face, so while the interior of the head could work as a min-vase, the holes made by the eyes would keep it from holding water. Dried flowers, I feel, would distract from the details of the face, so she lives as she is in the same cabinet next to the two face pitchers.

Blue glass bottles with faces on the stoppersI have a small collection of unusual bottles which includes these two with faces for stoppers. The female bottle, with the round stopper, is slightly taller than the male with the square face. She’s 10″ or 25.5 cm tall x 3″ or 7.5 cm at the base. These were purchased at a yard sale just because I thought they were funny. Displayed in a window, with the sunlight coming through them, they take on a distinctive glow. While trying to photograph these bottles and the porcelain pitchers in the photo above, I began to appreciate how difficult it is for glass, jewelry and some metal artists to get those great photos you see in the magazines because of the highly reflective surfaces. I’m glad that while the buttons and beads on my art quilts are shiny, they’re small enough that they can be photographed relatively easily. Transporting them, however, is another story. Who would have thought that a few glass buttons and beads would weigh so much!

For me, sometimes, I just have to have things around me for no other reason than that I find them to be amusing. Everyone of the objects above make me smile as I move around the house and see them. Together, with my other treasures, especially my art quilts on the walls, I have created my own “nest” of a home that displays my love of quirkiness. It’s such great, good fun to be an artist and give yourself permission to just play and have fun!

 Do you have any treasures in your house that are there just because they amuse you?How would an anthropologist describe the culture of you?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com and can find me on Google + , Facebook,  and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

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