Travelling On The Skateboard Of Life and Bedtime Stories

 


This piece was inspired by asking myself, 'how do we use our feet?'  and I looked at the different kinds of activities involving feet.  I landed on the skateboard and then expanded my thinking to how we move through space and life: the pace we move at and the baggage we carry or leave behind.  I added a blank book, called baggage,  to drag behind the skateboard, making this an interactive piece.  One can write about the baggage being carried or the baggage that has been left behind as part of one's history.  Three layers of recycled paper were added to the shoe forms and then covered with fabric.  The skate board is covered with sandpaper on the top and underneath flowers are appliqued to bright orange paper.  The wheels are recycled soft drink cans and each letter of L I F E is added to the end of the wheels.  Street photographs of skateboarders are included in the blank book called, baggage.  


The skateboard with the interactive book:  31.5 x 8.5 x 6 inches/80 x 21.6 x 15.2 cm


The skateboard with the shoe forms and the letters L I at the ends of the wheels 


The letters F and E on the ends of the wheels 

Materials used: 
cardboard, fabric, metal, sand paper, decorative paper, plastic, synthetic sinew, leather, photographs, recycled soft drink cans, recycled paper. 

Techniques used: 
Applique, papier mache, book binding, letter making. 

BEDTIME STORIES 

The shoe forms in this piece make up a pair of bedroom slippers (one his and one hers), inspired by my artist book called, 'Desire'.  The hand-written text ,in the book, was typed and bound in a Japanese stab binding style.  A blank book was included to write one's own bedtime stories.  A protective cover was made for the books and the slippers were attached to the cover.  


Bedroom slippers: papier mache, on the protective cover: 10.25 x 4 x 4.75 inches/26 x 22.9 x 12.1 cm



Japanese stab bound book inside the protective cover: 10 x 8.75 x 5 inches/25.4 x 22.3 x .3 cm


Typed text 


First page of the blank book: 10 x 7.1 inches/25.4 x 18 cm

Materials used: 
paper: chiyogami, bamboo, sketch; book cloth, fabric, leather, fur, acrylic paint, parchment paper, photographs, synthetic sinew, matte board

Techniques used: 
Japanese stab binding, portfolio binding, typed text, paper mache. 








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