Birdhouse Suites
Among my friends who know I work with found and recycled objects, I have one whose home is a treasure trove. For the past 30 years she has collected antique wooden birdhouses in her yard, so much to the delight of bird and man alike. Over the years exposure weathered many to the point of decay, and in spring 2010 I received a cache of pieces of broken birdhouses.
Laying everything out on a white background, I sorted by color: red/black, blue/green, white, unpainted. As I further disassembled and de-nailed the pieces, I was captivated by the unique texture of decay in each.
Recycled materials with their own histories are important to my art. As I manipulated the pieces of wood, ideas emerged as to how they would be reordered and transformed based on color and shape. Working in this small scale allowed me more freedom to explore spontaneously and work faster than usual.