The RUSTY TRIO OF 2014

One of my passions in art is to incorporate found objects. I confess that my affection for rust has found a huge space in my very overcrowded studio, but a select few have morphed into art works...

BUFFALO ROAMED

Ironically, this car hood  found on Rt. 66 is the ONLY found object that I have claimed and knew from the moment I saw it what I planned to do with it.  My immediate response to this hood cast aside on the road was how carelessly that people discard such items on our beautiful countryside. This is my statement that we should not find such debris, and that we would be better served to find our Oklahoma wildlife along these roadsides.

Here it is on my dinig table, where I spent five hours cleaning it.  

And here it is a few weeks later propped against the back of my pickup, ready to go to a Native American art show.

BEDTIME STORY

I found this child-sized bed headboard in a countryside creek bed.  A bed in a bed? Why do people dump their garbage in creeks...that has never made sense to me!

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Here it is finished with a snarling, salivating wolf.  A twofold purpose:  My wolf is angry about the litter and this is a reminder to be careful of the stories we tell our children when we tuck them into bed.  (Big bad wolf....now go to sleep, Junior.)

HORSE POWER

Perhaps some heavy roadway equipment ran over this item???  I found  this flattened rusty bucket on Highway 20  near Claremore, OK, the home of a very famous Oklahoman, Will Rogers.   It was clearly labeled "Butt Can" in white letters on both sides.  Such irony!...that this item was used to keep people from littering their cigarette butts, but later it became litter itself.  I'm sure if we could consult Will that he would have a humorous line about that!

I pondered and debateded about the rough surfaces on this found object and how I could incorporate them with wildlife...I thought about painting a spider its web,  a turtle, an eagle...

  Nothing seemed right until one of my fellow artists mentioned that this reminded him of an old feed bucket.  Frrom that moment on I couldn't see anything on this rusty can except a horse.  The rounded bottom of the can made a nice Native American shield which I painted with colors of  the Keetoowah Cherokee flag and embellished it with beadwork, jute, leather and feathers.  Feathers on the sheild came from an exotic animal rescue reserve.  My cousin provided the horsehair  from her three beautiful animals.  Thanks, Donna!

ZALLER ART SOCIETY

The three works above are currently displayed with ZALLER ART SOCIETY's fine art exhibit at the Student Union Gallery,  Tulsa Connunity College Southeast Campus,  through Jan.29, 2015, along with some of my other Native American influenced artwork.   My fellow artists are very talented...Great show...go see!