I am a collector of many things. I've often wondered about a possible connection between the collecting mentality and creativity in people. Is collecting linked to being more creative? How many producing artists are collectors of... anything? One could get a headache pondering this, but I'd love to investigate it someday.
Off the top of my head, there are some art history heavyweights that were collectors: Joseph Cornell, Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Rauschenberg had to have some quantity of cast off stuff for materials for their artwork. In the case of Oldenburg, the objects were not used in his artwork, but were the inspiration for his large scale sculptures of everyday objects. In Claes Oldenburg, An Anthology (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1995), there are a couple photos of shelves in his studio, piled with all sorts of odd items. I sometimes wonder how these artists acquired their collections. Did they go to junk auctions like the ones I frequent? Were they dumpster divers? Did they claim whatever things people that they knew were discarding?
What do you collect, either consciously or unconsciously? Some collections grow without the collector realizing he or she is collecting. One of the easiest and cheapest (make that free) collections would be the gathering of quotations. I have a small sketchbook just for the purpose of recording quotes that I like. Since I have much to do before the quilt show this weekend, I will leave you with this until next time:
"Art is not to be awaited; it is to be chased down, cornered, and beaten into submission with a stick."
--Michael Perry, Population 485
Now, go make something! Or start or add to a collection...
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