Tuesday, December 1, 2009
notes to self
grandmas
My paternal grandmother collected Chanel N05 bottles (she kept them after they went stale, I guess)
my maternal grandmother collected harlequin romances
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-harlequin-books29-2009nov29,0,5491411.story
definitions
* collection: the act of gathering something together
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
* The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collecting
* collect - roll up: get or gather together; "I am accumulating evidence for the man's unfaithfulness to his wife"; "She is amassing a lot of data for her thesis"; "She rolled up a small fortune"
* collect - call for and obtain payment of; "we collected over a million dollars in outstanding debts"; "he collected the rent"
* collect - gather: assemble or get together; "gather some stones"; "pull your thoughts together"
* collect - get or bring together; "accumulate evidence"
* gather or collect; "You can get the results on Monday"; "She picked up the children at the day care center"; "They pick up our trash twice a week"
* collect - make a telephone call or mail a package so that the recipient pays; "call collect"; "send a package collect"
* collect - a short prayer generally preceding the lesson in the Church of Rome or the Church of England
* collect - payable by the recipient on delivery; "a collect call"; "the letter came collect"; "a COD parcel"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
* collected - brought together in one place; "the collected works of Milton"; "the gathered folds of the skirt"
* collected - in full control of your faculties; "the witness remained collected throughout the cross-examination"; "perfectly poised and sure of himself"; "more self-contained and more dependable than many of the early frontiersmen"; "strong and self-possessed in the face of trouble"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
* Collected (aka Seed 1) is a 2005 promotional DVD, freely distributed in limited supply by Nine Inch Nails. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collected_(Nine_Inch_Nails_DVD)
* Collected - Collection is when a horse carries more weight on his hindlegs than his front legs. The horse draws the body in upon itself so that it becomes like a giant spring whose stored energy can be reclaimed for fighting or running from a predator. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collected_(horse)
* Collected is a five disc Black 'N Blue box set, released in 2005, with 4 audio CDs and one DVD.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collected_(Black_'n_Blue_box_set)
researchishness
Thrift Stores:
Unique, Unique Thrift - 3000 S Halsted St
Unique has some really cool stuff, and they have really good value days (Half-Price Mondays). Its in the average thrift store pricing range. A lot of their merch seems a degree more sorted and preselected for the customer. I found a really old copy of the adventures of doctor Doolittle, with the original illustrations. It was $2, which is steeper than what I’m used to in thrift stores.
Village Discount, 2032 N. Milwaukee by the Western Blue Line stop
I wasn’t very impressed with the selection at Village Discount, although it was pretty inexpensive (2-5 dollars for blouses). For me – I think I appreciate finding unusual stuff, and the day I went, it seemed like pretty generic stuff. A lot of mall-brand name clothing. It seemed very preselected to me.
They do have different colored tags, so half-price on a lot of items. But I couldn’t really find anything appealing. I think its probably a good place for practical items, but I rarely go to thrift stores for that reason.
Salvation Army on Salvation Army - 2024 S Western at Western Pink Line Stop
This place is pretty tiny, and seems a little dirty (it smells a little like mildew) but! It can be a treasure trove of unusual and interesting finds! And its mostly dirt cheap! I have found many incredible vintage hats (50c-1.50), very unusual books (hardbacks are 50c each), and just strange things I may be able to incorporate into art (such as large baggies of gold doilies, or stacks of round plastic cups). All for very low prices. It almost pains me to inform anyone about it. It’s the closest thrift store to me, and at my CTA stop, so I have frequently explored it. Sometimes, it feels like an archeological dig. You may have to spend a long time to find something interesting or of value. The clothing are oddly priced – some dresses are priced at $20, others at $3, with no apparent system to the purchaser. Also – after going a few times, you can kind of tell when they get a huge amount donated from one individual or family. Sometimes they get a huge amount of toys in, or boxes and boxes of books and records, obviously belonging to the same library, or suddenly have a large amount of church lady hats. The more unique things are, the lower they seem to be priced (referring to random objects and clothing).
An unrelated note: It functions in rehabilitation process for people in the punitary system. The workers are often working off probation. Most are very friendly.
Goodwill Outlet Store, in Milwaukee, Oregon
Nicknamed “The Bins”.
I visited ‘The Bins” while I was in Portland for a weekend.
This is basically set up like an enormous rummage sale, housed in a warehouse that is full of bins, full of random stuff, all piled together. It is where all of the stuff that wasn’t deemed acceptable by the regular Goodwill stores, or did not sell for whatever reason, go, before they are shipped to other countries (as rags) or sometimes to the landfill. It also functions as donation center. Almost everything at “The Bins” is priced by the pound ($1.39 per pound). Furniture / bicycles are priced separately. It’s another one of those places where you have to invest a lot of time, and get a little dirty, in order to find anything, and its one of those places that you can find unbelievable treasures. The customers range from “pickers”, who are looking for stuff to sell (I have a picker friend who found a paper dress, in its original sealed bag, and sold it for $1000), to people who are curious, to people who go for the fun of the hunt, to people who are definite hoarders. I didn’t have the time, or inclination to really hunt, but I did find a garden gnome for a friend who collects them. It was a couple of bucks. The other thing about Oregon is there is no sales tax!
FreeGeek Thrift Store, 1731 SE 10th Avenue, Portland Oregon
FreeGeek is the raddest place on earth if you have any amount of geeky nerdy computer / hardware tinkering personality traits! It’s a non profit, that will reuse old computer hardware, reconstructing and donating materials to schools (they make computers out of busted computers for people in need. You can volunteer / intern with them, and you can learn how to build your own computer while you are there – which you get to take home with you! The thrift store is a geek paradise, (or art and tech, or just artist) with chips, and monitors, all the hardware, keyboards, tvs, – and weeeird stuff! I went a couple of times when I lived in Portland. They are way into promoting the UBUNTU philosophy.
SCRAP Thrift Store Portland Oregon
SCRAP started as a little hole-in-the-wall in Portland – now its branched out to other states! It’s a thrift shop of scraps – art supply thrift store. You can donate there – stuff that as artists we might recognize as valuable materials for reuse, but most people might throw away or recycle but aren’t your run of the mill egg carton (its always different – but examples are weird tubing, beakers, hot air balloon material). Prices vary, but an armful of goodies could be a dollar or two, depending on the materials. The purpose is to promote material reuse, community art, and as a conduit for materials that are collected for donation to schools for art classes. Its really cheap, and fun, and always has new stuff, that in the context allows you to see the potential as material. They also display objects that are made by the products available, to provide a context. I went on a Monday– oops! They were closed L but it was exciting to peak in.
The Rebuilding Center and Hippo Hardware, Portland
Used building and remodeling materials. I may be living on a houseboat someday, and creating an internet radio station (hence the tinkering with gadgets and gizmos at FreeGeek). I’m not kidding – this is my plan – to have a goat and honeybee farm, near to some body of water, upon which I will be living in a houseboat (with a treehouse studio nearby). So my thrifting has become oriented toward the practical, and the D.I.Y. approach. One of the best placesto find THRIFTSTORES that cater to really bizarre needs, and the D.I.Y. approach is Portland. Two such places are the Rebuilding Center, and Hippo Hardware. I used to frame my paintings in old windows I would buy for a couple of bucks a piece at REBUILDING CENTER. The idea is – they harvest scraps from remodeling projects that would otherwise be thrown out, and sell them. Windows, doors, bathtubs, sinks…..you name it. Hippo has a whole floor dedicated to lamps and lighting fixtures. Another one for plumbing….The employees at both places are really informed and helpful. Plust – they are really great places to find stuff for art projects – installations, and scrap for sculpture – I found a bunch of stuff for my welding class a few years ago. Prices are generally more reasonable at REBUILDING – everything is in it’s scrapped form, and you can bargain – especially if you buy a lot of stuff at once. HIPPO is a little higher end, and more specialized.
NOT QUITE THRIFT
Fat Rabbit Halsted in Pilsen, Chicago
My friend Feather runs this place. One of those conduit places – a lot seems acquired from thriftstores, but the pricing is pretty reasonable – so the issue of “feeling ripped off” doesn’t happen. Its kind of fun and funky, with vintage clothes, and thrifted objects – posters, paintings, a few mid-century modern pieces – there’s always hip music, and art shows.
FLEA MARKET
EAGLES Lodge in Portland
Hosts an indoor flea market, TWILIGHT RUMMAGE SALE once a month – on a Saturday, with live DJs. It is in the early evenings, (4pm to 8 pm) and has room for about 20 vendors. They ask for a dollar donation to get in. Prices range considerably. A lot of mid-century knick knacks, jewelry, record albums - some artists and crafters rent a table to sell their wares. Most people doing this flea market seem to be regular vendors – they know what they have, generally, but you can still bargain. They rotate the vendors, because there is so little space, so each month is a new group, which is pretty cool. They also rotate the DJs, so each event is different. The nights tend to be pretty busy - it’s a fun atmosphere – with the live DJing, and the EAGLES bar and restaurant, so you can walk around sipping a beer and listening to music. I didn’t buy anything, but it was fun to walk around. I was interested in a few old photos, but they weren’t catching my fancy enough to splurge (he was asking 3 bucks a piece – for me that’s pricy!)
Monday, November 30, 2009
crispin's collections
vintage ties he rarely wears
clowns
he collects:
robby benson paraphernelia
newspaper clippings
old toothbrushes (???)
facespacemysterfriendbook
networking sites are ways to collect people, especially facebook. i keep ending up in long lists with other people and stuff. odd.
robin kandel artist statements
Here’s a statement I wrote ages ago for story 1 run and story 2 postola. (you might notice there’s beginning thoughts about run-dig and stack in here too.)
In 2001 I learned my father had two audiotapes from a 1983 interview. The tapes describe his childhood during the Second World War in Berezno, Ukraine. I asked him to send them to me. By hiding in the woods for nearly two years he, like others, escaped being killed by the Nazis. He was accompanied by his mother, younger brother, his grandfather and two uncles. Other members of his family, including his father, were killed either while in hiding or because they refused to leave their home and enter work camps. We didn’t talk much about my father’s childhood when I was growing up. As I got older he occasionally mentioned some detail, what the shelters in the woods looked like, for instance, or that a raw potato is edible. I believe he thought I knew the actual story, not my vague and fragmented version. I thought I did too.
When I first heard the tapes I was struck by accounts of literally running for one’s life, not once or twice but many times. What could this be like? I have no desire to recreate the experience of running in the woods, wearing makeshift shoes, while people are firing machine guns at me. But I did feel the need to enter the periphery of that world in order to begin to understand it. I went to my local woods and let my imagination assume a role while I ran with a camera in hand. I scared myself a little, but mostly I realized that I might be one of those “people who just couldn’t keep up (and) remained behind.” Of course, remaining behind meant almost certain death.
I continued thinking about the events recounted. The woods provided safety, while simultaneously harboring danger. The woods provided a chance for survival, but not everyone survived. Basic continuums of life - work, finding food and shelter, death - took on extraordinary proportions. Sisyphean tasks of digging and stacking were demanded at the work camp. Winter in the woods meant creating shelters underground to stay dry and warm, always ready to abandon and run if discovered. Food was begged for, foraged and stolen. When members of the family were killed, they were buried in the woods.
Would it be possible to visit the woods where these events took place over sixty years ago? Would there be any sense of the history that took place in those woods? I have relatives buried in those woods. I might walk where they lay without even knowing it. These and other topics surfaced in story 1, run. To further understand the events that my father recounts, it seemed necessary to transcribe what I was hearing on the tapes. In this way I could read bits and pieces slowly and repeatedly and make sense of them. During the process of transcribing I realized I was participating in a literal passing of story from one generation to the next. My father’s words went in my ears and passed out my hand in the form of text, a story.
The completion of story 1, run led to more questions. Details that my father mentioned in the tapes. Did he really remember how to wrap his foot with rags for lack of socks or shoes? When I asked him, he replied sure, though he may need a little practice. In fact he needed no practice. Clearly he had done this so many times that it was ingrained in his memory – simple as buttoning one’s own shirt. He explained how they wove shoes from strips of birch bark and drew a diagram on a scrap of paper, “The shoes were called postolas. The peasants in the area made them beautifully. We just made crude versions.” Thus story 2, postola began.
There aren’t many birch trees where I live, I thought eucalyptus bark that sheds from the tree might work as a substitute. My father was willing to give it a try. I watched as he stood in my studio and began weaving a postola. The last time he had made a postola was over sixty years ago, while on the run for his life.
Benjamin and Julius statement: (not great, but gives you some thoughts)
There are three family myths that caught my attention as a child. Maybe myth isn’t the right word because these things were based in fact, but they felt mythological, they felt as if they separated me from the ordinary kid. First, my dad had hid in a cornfield with his dad who was caught and shot dead by germans. Second, my mom had cousins in Alcatraz, members of the Purple Gang. Finally, my parents were cousins, their respective grandfathers being brothers. I accepted these myths as fully realized in their brevity.
As a child, to say, in one breath, the words relative and Alcatraz to another kid held some cache. As did having a dad who was Russian, it was the cold war after all. When, at an uncertain grade school age, a teacher explained a bit about concentration camps
I was proud to declare that my great grandfather had escaped from one. She said it was very unlikely, it rarely happened, which was confusing because we often visited my great grandfather at his apartment and I was sure he had been in a camp, evidenced by his red purple shins, clearly a result of torture, most likely his legs frozen in ice (or so I thought).
It would take a few decades before I began asking questions and sorting things out. I had waited, unintentionally, simply for lack of interest, until those who could explain things in their own words had died. So it was my mom who recalled that her dad was caught driving a get away car for the Purple Gang. My uncle, a few years older, never heard about the get away car but knows that his dad took a fall for the Purples because he visited him in jail; in exchange the Purple cousins provided for their family through the depression. Neither my mom nor uncle can describe how these Purple Gang are cousins to their father. Both agree that the cousins were nice guys who always arrived with bags of groceries. Nice guys who happened to be gun and liquor runners, extortionists, racketeers, kidnappers, murderers, and arsonists. They did experience Alcatraz.
My dad has provided me with more details of his war experience then I can recount here. His grandfather did escape a labor camp, as did his father, mother and himself along with many others. They fled to nearby woods where they lived, on the run, until nearly the end of the war. His father was killed during this time, on a day when he and his dad went to a farmhouse to beg for provisions. The farmer had alerted authorities, my dad and his father ran for their lives, my dad heard the shot that killed his own father. My great grandfathers red purple shins were the result of leaping from a slowing train, after liberation. Hot metal on skin.
