The Anthropocene Aesthetic: Seaweed Lamp

Seaweed Lamp

Materials: copper, seaweed, plastic bags

 

My first hands-on engagement with seaweed was over 12 years ago, and you can find my early discoveries regarding shaping, molding, and stitching seaweed here: Seaweed.  Working with seaweed is like wrestling an alligator, particularly when it comes to stitching the prickly, unwieldy, ever-shrinking stuff. This time around the shrinkage was almost my downfall. I thought I had collected more than enough to create a seaweed lampshade, with a large Tupperware container packed to the brim with wet bounty. Ah, but it shrinks! 

In art as in life, every problem is an opportunity, and the "Oh crap, I don't have enough seaweed" problem provoked the invention of a lamp that reflects the Anthropocene aesthetic, reflecting the degree to which the human species is having an impact on the planet earth.  Gauzy plastic bags (often mistaken by fish for jellyfish in the ocean and ingested with lethal results) intermingle beautifully with the vibrant colors of the seaweed. The top fixture of the lamp is copper, the mining of which is severely toxic to the environment.

From artistic challenges and a bummer of an inspirational premise, the seaweed lamp was born to reflect the shifting aesthetics of the Anthropocene, in which environmental destruction and copious amounts of garbage are simply the new landscape.

Iluminated seaweed

Seaweed artfully intermingled with garbage

The Process

The seaweed was collected from the shore at Monastery Beach, where the ocean fights back effectively enough against man to be able to kill a few every year.

Seaweed in situ

The beach that fights back

Playing with wet seaweed

Drying and shaping seaweed

The lamp at night

The Polka Dot Cure

 During a recent bout of self-imposed isolation due to my third time around with Covid, I came to an astonishing realization: Polka dots can cure just about anything, from food stains to floors to a very bad mood.

Polka Dot Fabric Patching

There's many a slip twist the fork and the frock.

If, like me and my friend Dawn, you favor natural fabrics but find that most every time you eat you drop something or other onto your clothing creating an indelible stain, this cure is for you. Below are three cotton shirts I "cured" for Dawn during a recent visit. To make these polka dot patches, see the how-to instructions included in the post, The Transitional Traveling Scarf.

The cure for food stains: polka dots!

Back

The beauty of this cure is that, as you continue to systematically destroy your garments, you can simply keep adding polka dots.

Front

Back

Tiny dots

To create tiny polka dots (the ones above are covering both stains and bleached-out areas), simply cut out a circular scrap of fabric, stitch around edge of circle, draw tight, and use the sewing needle to pick the poufy result into a flat circle shape. Using the same needle and thread, stitch directly onto garment.

Tiny dots

The back: polka dot with a sense of humor

Polka Dot Cure for Depression

Aside from their practical advantages, I have found that polka dots utilized for no practical reason whatsoever can offer a jolt of pure joy. I seldom begin a project with polka dots in mind, but if the project begins to look a little lackluster or boring I know the cure. Below are two recent projects in which polka dots were put into play with good effect.

Linen Shirt Upcycled from Aprons

Linen shirt with a dash of polka dots 

Back (and yes that is a pocket center back)

House Slippers Created From Upcycled Men's Shirts

This project, which involved winging it with no idea of what I was doing, took a very exciting turn when I realized I finally had a use for the leftover collars from upcycled thrift store man-tailored shirts. Here, it would take a sour outlook indeed to deny that the polka dots add a splash of added joy.

House slippers with polka dots

Even the pompoms, created from trimmings from the slipper seams, form a three-dimensional polka dot!

Pompom polka dots

 Polka Dot Floor Repair

I was in the midst of this polka dot craze when I enjoyed a brief retreat at Asilomar in Carmel, staying at the Julia Morgan-designed Scripps House. Imagine the giddy reaction when I looked down and spotted this gorgeous polka dot repair to the vintage wood flooring.

A wood floor polka dot repair

The Future of Polka Dots

The field of polka dot science and hands-on research is still in its early stages. Who knows how far this could go – from polka dot pothole repair transforming the crumbling infrastructure of our streets to a playful wonderland, to polka dot cuisine, polka dot auto body repair – the possibilities are endless.

 

A Perfectly Ambiguous Protest Pin

 

Recently my friend Chris, with whom I eat sushi every Tuesday, announced that he had come up with the perfect protest pin: a simple message that questions, "Had enough?" I was thrilled when he gave me permission to use the idea, and settled on the two most readable color schemes for signage — red and black for one, blue and yellow for the other.

To craft the pins I used my standby tin-can-lid method (full instructions for do-it-yourself tin-can pins can be found in my Tin Can Frames Tutorial).

However, in the process of wielding my needle nose pliers to craft a few prototypes, while my fingers were occupied my mind had time to wander far and wide. I realized that, while my intent in making these was firmly anti-Trump and anti-fascist, the exact same pin might perfectly express the sentiments of those convinced they need to make America great again. For that matter, the pin could also work for members of all 12-step groups, for abused wives, for those fed up with crime in our cities, and for those trying to curb climate change by reducing consumption. 

I had unwittingly created the perfectly ambiguous protest pin, suitable for expressing the utter dissatisfaction of most every American about something or other. What does it say about a nation when all of its citizens are completely fed up — but disparate groups are sick unto death of entirely different things? Who knows? Certainly not me; I'm just cranking out art.

Suitable for most any dissatisfaction.

If you would like to join the confused masses and let the world know that you, too, have totally had it, make a batch of perfectly ambiguous protest pins and pass them around. If nothing else they may spark conversation across our different world views, which would be an accomplishment in itself.

The How-To

Use the link for the Tin Can Frames Tutorial to learn how to make a pin from a tin can lid, and use the following link for a free downloadable pdf of the Had Enough Pin Template, which offers a template for making six pins.

Had Enough Pin Template

Fading Memories: Anthotype Prints

 

Ephemeral print of fairy harvesting dandelions

Everything in our human nature fights the idea of loss. We don't like things that fade, that disappear, that are lost to time. And yet, what freedom there is in letting go. There is no better way to practice the embrace of the ephemeral than making anthotype prints. This is a method of image-making that predates photography and is entirely organic, but anthotypes are designed to disappear. Left out in the sun, they will entirely fade away, and I think there is something wonderfully magical about that.

These anthotypes use a formula involving ground turmeric, rubbing alcohol, baking soda, and water.

The Formula

Mix a ratio of one teaspoon ground turmeric in a glass or plastic cup with 4 to 6 teaspoons of rubbing alcohol. Stir thoroughly, then filter out undissolved turmeric grains using coffee filter or cotton cloth into another container.

Turmeric-alcohol solution

Paint this turmeric solution onto a sturdy piece of paper using a brush, covering the entire surface. Note turmeric really stains everything in sight, so put a drop cloth or paper towels under your paper. The result will be bright yellow. Immediately store the paper flat away from sunlight until it is entirely dry.

Covering surface with turmeric

The Collage Method

Collect elements you want to assemble into a print. Here I've collected various weeds and grasses from a walk along Lake Merritt. I have also cut out a couple of vintage images of ladies dancing around that I collected and printed from the internet.

Collecting elements for the prints

Place your dry sheet of turmeric paper on a piece of cardboard. Arrange your objects on top of the turmeric paper, and top with a piece of glass. If you have a bunch of frames not currently being used, the glass and backing from these are ideal. You will want to prep all of this and make everything a lot easier by making sure that your backing, turmeric paper, and glass are all the same size at this point. The final step is to clamp it all firmly together.

A clamped anthotype in progress

Another clamped piece

Place your clamped pieces in direct sunlight and leave in place until all of the visible yellow turmeric turns very, very pale. Hopefully you live in a sunny climate. My first stab at this was in Northern California during a season known as "June Gloom," with fog and dim sun. Your print may be ready in a matter of hours. Mine took about five days to fade sufficiently.

The final stage involves developing the anthotype. Create a mixture with a ratio of four teaspoons of baking soda to a cup of warm water and stir thoroughly. You will want this amount of developing fluid for each print. Disassemble your clamped piece and remove all of the collaged pieces. Holding the print over a sink, douse the entire surface of the print with the baking soda solution. At this point your print will really pop, turning from pale yellow to a brown-amber color. You may rinse the surface of the print briefly with water to remove the baking soda solution. Immediately store flat in a dark closet to dry.

Here are the sample anthotypes from my first pass at this.

 

The dandelion print

Flying among grass seeds

Pagan Revelry

And yes, these will fade over time when they are exposed to sunlight. I created a series of cards, tucking a print inside each one, and sent them off to artist friends I knew would be intrigued by this technique. I am curious whether the recipients will react by storing them away, out of the sunlight, or if they embrace the fleeting beauty of this art form, prop the print on a shelf, enjoy it while it lasts, and watch it disappear over time. 

One aspect that surprised me with this collage method is that the printed figures I used transferred so much detail. I realized that the details in the original printout are captured because the black areas of the print remain opaque while white or light areas let more sunlight through. The third print above was a black silhouette, and created a silhouette figure with no details.

The Transparency Film Method

Out of curiosity I experimented with an alternate method, printing a few photos onto acetate film (available online; I used WeLiu Transparency film for Inket Printers). What you get is a photo image on the transparent sheet. Instead of using paper and plants, I followed the formula outlined above using a sheet of plastic with a photo image.

Photo of me taken by a Chinese composer

Craft session with the grandnieces

The prints were developed using the baking soda method outlined above.

With the film method, I believe the final prints would benefit from a little more photo manipulation before printing the image out onto the transparency paper.  Fiddling with contrast, increasing and sharpening both light and dark areas might heighten results. But again, these are designed to be fleeting and fade with time, much like our memories.

Experimentation at this end will continue. You are encouraged to launch into some of your own at your end.

Slow Assemblage

 

The Medic

Slow assemblage occurs almost spontaneously, when objects come together across time and space. It is more intuitive than intentional.

Close-up, The Medic

This first piece was sparked by an encounter with a vendor selling vintage lead toy soldiers on Portobello Road in London. The valiant little army medic (94th Infantry Position, US Army, 1945) was so compelling that he was mine from the first moment. Is that a look of valor or despair in his eyes, or the "long stare" of a combat soldier who has simply seen too much of the horrors of war? Once back in California, not a second's thought went into pairing him with an antique miner's lantern, designed to hold a candle and be looped over a belt strap and found in a bin of junk over thirty years ago at the Alameda Flea Market,  The addition of candles - to illuminate the trenches, to light the way, to provide a focus for ritual, magic, and prayer was obvious. This slow assemblage had found itself.

The second slow assemblage also came together through time and space in spontaneous reaction to another object gifted to me in London — a foot carved out of volcanic rock from Hawaii. 

The Foot

The objects drawn to the foot and forming a perfect fit include a huge rusted nail picked up on a wander along the railroad tracks circa 1990, and a twisted, curved swirl of honeysuckle root picked up during a hike with Brother Shimo, a found wood and stone artist in Japan, back in 1970. The perfect housing emerged from a stack of assorted vintage drawers found here and there, over a span of decades.

Close-up

Nail and honeysuckle root

If the process of slow-assemblage is indeed non-intentional, one might wonder if there is any way to encourage or stimulate this spontaneous happening. Why yes, yes there is.  Curiosity, awareness, and mindless collecting are key ingredients. That scrap of rust on the ground is so lovely, why not pick it up? The broken figurine needn't go into the bin; who knows what it might give birth to a few decades from now? The answer, in short, is junk. 

Junk!

Lots and lots of junk. Every once in a while, bring some of it out, spread it around, and play with it. If nothing happens, store it away again with no harm and no foul. You simply had a pleasant interlude playing. This will also help you develop a comprehensive understanding of and relationship to your junk, so when and if a new object enters the picture you sense immediately which objects in your universe of junk are longing to be paired with it.

Lots and lots of junk!*

* Full disclosure: The photos above show a very, very small fraction of my vast junk collection.