Treasure Hunting: Turning Discarded Objects Into Art

This is what the back of our SUV looks like when we go junkin'. Rusted metal. Weathered wood. Discarded bits and pieces that someone else has finished with and I can't quite leave behind.

To most people, it's a car full of junk. To me, it's a car full of possibilities. It might become a one-of-a-kind abstract wall assemblage, an animal sculpture, a cross, an angel, a peace sign, or a heart. Or something I haven't thought of yet. I don't collect only for one kind of artwork. I collect because my mind keeps finding something to make.

It started with one precious item in an auction lot

Years ago, when my art career was first starting, I went to auctions. If you've ever bought a junk lot because there was ONE PRECIOUS ITEM in it that you just had to have, you know how this goes. You get the thing you wanted, and you also get a whole box of things you didn't set out to buy.

Then you're standing there with that box of leftovers. Someone has already decided these things aren't worth keeping. You could make the same decision, take out your one treasure, and throw the rest away. But I started looking at what was left and thinking about what I could do with it.

That is what started me down this path. The leftovers became materials. A box of junk became a reason to make something. I didn't need every object to be beautiful on its own, or valuable in the way the auction item had been. I needed to see a possibility in it.

Barns, rural properties, and a trunk full of possibilities

Over time, junkin' has taken us to junk stores, people's barns, and out onto rural properties. When people learn what I do with found objects, some invite us to come look through what they have. Some even bring pieces to me.

I really appreciate that. What one person sees as something to clear out, I may see as something I can use. Rusted and weathered materials already have character. They don't have to arrive looking new. In fact, looking new is often the last thing I want from them.

The pile is part of the story, too. Before anything becomes a finished artwork, there are all these separate things: wood, metal, scraps, odd pieces, and objects with no obvious purpose anymore. Seeing them together makes it easier to understand where the work begins.

Reuse, repurpose, recycle. Yes, I mean it.

As corny as it sounds, I like to reuse, repurpose, and recycle. I hate the idea of adding more junk to the planet when there might be another use for what we already have. So I find ways to use the junk to create something.

I look at what is in front of me and try to find a use for it. The material gets another life, and I get to follow whatever it brings out in my imagination. That is why I keep collecting the pieces that other people are ready to throw away.

The work before it's finished

Here is what the work looks like before it is finished. The rusty pieces, old wood, and discarded objects are still easy to recognize. Nothing arrived as a cross or a creature. That part comes from putting the materials together and seeing what I can make.

A found-object cross assemblage in progress.

Animal sculptures: found objects and two-part epoxy clay

For my animal sculptures, I often combine found objects with a two-part epoxy clay. The discarded objects and the sculpted elements become part of the same piece. These aren't animals made from one material or a single repeated recipe.

Rat sculptures in progress, combining found objects with two-part epoxy clay.

Animal sculptures give me room for character, humor, and whatever strange little idea shows up. The found objects don't have to lead to the same animal or the same mood every time. An owl and a rat can belong to the same practice without looking anything alike.

A found-object owl sculpture.

A closer look at the owl's found-object details.

Rats with their own personalities

These rats show another side of that work. Anarchy Rat, Ride or Die, Will Work for Cheese, and Minnie Ratkins each have their own identity. The shared starting point is found material, but that doesn't mean the finished pieces all have to say the same thing.

Anarchy Rat.

Ride or Die.

Will Work for Cheese.

Minnie Ratkins.

Crosses, angels, and whatever comes next

I also make crosses and angels from found objects. The same kind of material that becomes a creature can become a different form altogether. I don't want to put a limit on that. If the idea is there, I want to be able to follow it.

SOLD. Found-object cross assemblage 042210. View the artwork details.

SOLD. Found-object cross assemblage 012302. View the artwork details.

These are two different crosses, and both have sold. I'm showing them here as examples of what the materials have become, rather than as pieces currently available to buy. You can also explore my cross art and the different ways I work with that form.

Found-object angel assemblage.

Hearts made from the things people throw away

Hearts are another form I return to. These pieces come from the same willingness to look at an object differently. Something weathered or rusty doesn't have to be softened into something new before it belongs in a heart. It can still look like itself and become part of something else.

SOLD. Bow and Arrow Heart.

SOLD. Speedometer Heart.

Bow and Arrow Heart and Speedometer Heart are two of my best hearts, and both have sold. The other hearts below show more of the range. A familiar outline leaves plenty of room for different objects, colors, and ideas.

Heart VI.

Yellow Heart.

I am always making. Always.

If I'm not painting, I'm making a collage or building something from found objects. I might be arranging flowers for the house or working on a wall treatment. The medium changes. The need to create doesn't. I'm not happy unless I'm creating.

I've been criticized by many in the art world for not being “consistent.” But I feel like my body would explode if all I could do was paint abstracts, or make sculptures, or stay inside one style of working. I need to move between materials and ideas. That is where I feel alive.

I don't knock artists who work that way. For some, one medium or one direction is exactly right. For me, it isn't. I won't be pigeonholed, and I won't be told that I have to make art a certain way to be taken seriously.

Honestly, I don't fucking care how anyone takes me. I create my art to make my soul happy. That is also what resonates with so many of the people I connect with through my work. They aren't connecting with a formula. They're connecting with something that comes from me.

I am truly multidisciplinary. Maybe I take that to the extreme, but that is where I feel at home. Paintings, collages, one-of-a-kind abstract wall assemblages, animal sculptures, crosses, angels, peace signs, hearts, and whatever my mind comes up with next: all of it belongs.

The discarded materials are a starting point, not a rule about what the finished work has to be. If you'd like to read more about this part of my practice, I've also written about bricolage, collage, and assemblage in my work.

Have something old, rusty, or weathered?

If you have old magazines, old newspapers, weathered wood, rusty bits and pieces, or old thingamajigs you would like to give me, I really appreciate people thinking of my work before throwing things away.

Please reach out through my contact form first and tell me what you have. We can talk about whether it is something I can use before you send or bring anything. An object doesn't need an obvious use for you to mention it. Sometimes that's exactly where an idea starts.

It started with one precious item and a box of leftovers. Now, sometimes, the leftovers are the part I want most.