stash.2!
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stash.2! ---
I don’t know about you, but I am a big collector of materials. It is a large part of my artistic practice. I enjoy stockpiling numerous supplies thinking the dangerous (for me at least) idea that I will use these things sometime, for something. Do a lot of other artists do this? I have a sneaking suspicion that we do.
During stay-at-home orders in 2020 I thought, “Yes!! Now is the time to use this stuff! Let’s go!” . . . Quickly I became overwhelmed by too many ideas and the pressure to use this time wisely. After a couple of weeks I relaxed some and gave myself a break. Why was I pressuring myself so much? Were other artists feeling this same pressure?
While thinking over these questions, this project began to take shape.
I shared some of my collection of materials in an art supply kit to other artists to use within their own work. These supplies were shared through the USPS to artists that responded to an artist call through social media. The rule was that each artist must use all of the materials received within a singular work of their own. Any other medium within that artists own personal supply stash may be used in combination with those received. The project was limited to the first 50 artists that requested to participate.
After a month from receiving their materials, each artist photographed their work and returned the digital image(s) to me through email with a description of their own personal experience with the materials they have potentially collected, hoarded, coveted, or not. Has this sharing of outside materials sparked ideas or was it frustrating to have the constraint of having to include all of the materials?
Also, I requested that they share their own experience with art making while staying at home. Have they had an explosion of creative energy? What has been difficult? What has been fantastic?
Enjoy the exhibition! Big, big thanks to each of the participating artists — this has been an amazing project and I am so floored by the works created and stories shared! This second version of the stash project was generously funded by an ArtsKC Inspiration Grant.
Allison Bowman, Olathe, KS
This piece was made with mental health in mind. The pandemic has taken its toll on everyone over the past two years. We have dealt with sickness, isolation, loss, and devastation in this scary, unpredictable time. From August 2020-February 2021 the CDC reported that the percentage of American adults experiencing symptoms of an anxiety or depressive disorder rose from 36.4% to 41.5%, with most of the increase happening in adults aged 18-29. As we have finished 2021 and go into 2022 those numbers are still rising. These reports have come from people who have been experiencing lack of resources, loss of jobs or loved ones, feelings of hopelessness, and more. My artistic practice revolves around my own struggles with mental illness, specifically anxiety and depression disorders, and using art as a tool to cope.
Having limited materials to create this piece put me in the mindset of "how do I create something beautiful using limited or unfamiliar resources?". I chose to use nature in my piece because plants symbolize life and growth. It's a metaphor of how people too can survive and grow in difficult conditions. I used all of the materials that Justin included in the Stash, including the envelope, the ziploc bag all of the materials were in, as well as the sheet of instructions that he included. The words "Your personal stories can spark an explosion of creative energy. Be free to create from within." Is taken from words cut out of Justin's instructions. This is a reminder to me and to others that many times our creativity comes from our personal stories and struggles and to not suppress them, but to embrace them and learn more about ourselves and our capabilities.
Allison LaValley, Mililani, HI
While I also use layered paper, collage, and paper-cutting techniques in my “usual” work, it is almost always done in combination with my own paintings and drawings. These images or materials selected by someone else surely hold different meaning than those you curate yourself, so it was a challenge not only to use all of the items in some way, but to use them in a way that felt “right.” I found myself focusing on composition and ways to process or transform the objects to make them feel more like things I might choose myself. On the other hand, because these items don’t hold the same sentimental value to me as things I might collect myself, I felt a freedom to be less precious with them. Ultimately, this call was a fun way to experiment and exercise my creative muscle, though surprisingly difficult when tasked with using every item (including the ziplock bag and mailing envelope containing those items!).
Despite the pandemic, I’ve been very busy making art in the past 18 months. I was fortunate to have several shows scheduled pre-pandemic or popping up spontaneously along the way, but it has also been very difficult and stressful at times as I juggled two kids in virtual school, the shift to a home-based workspace, and now an international move. Though I am grateful that this hectic schedule of obligations helped keep me motivated to work, I look forward to things finally slowing down in the coming months as I re-situate and recharge!
Eventually He Cracked, 2021
Watercolor paper, watercolor, acrylic medium, wool, wrapping paper, fabric scraps, magazine cut-outs, Manila envelope, plastic bag, plastic tiles, wooden fork; 9x12 inches
Amanda Jolley, Kansas City, MO
The materials I received really baffled me for a time. As an origami artist, I speculated how I could create a cohesive piece folding the papers and finally settled on creating an origami boat reinforcing with plaster gauze using the wooden fork as a mast for the sail. But alas, that is not what I did on the day of creation. I woke up wanting to light things on fire. And I had seen Brittany Noriega’s video of making the paper from her materials which sparked an idea of how to form my fire fodder. I shredded the paper materials including the envelope and instructions and used them to form a word over a 24x30 inch panel. The word was inspired by a ritual some artist friends and I have begun in which we burn away the fucks that we no longer want to give. Added to the shredded paper are the ribbons, plastic game tiles, and zip lock bag. All lit on fire. (One material not included in the final piece is the wooden fork because I lost it, but it would have burned nicely too.) The underlying base in which the word was spelled is formed of melted beeswax prayer candles from a Greek Orthodox church. The title of the piece is Lord, Hear Our Prayer.
The time sequestered in my studio over this pandemic has really allowed me to produce a great deal of cathartic art. I stopped working on producing for the public eye and started lighting things on fire just for the joy and experimentation. The experience during this time has really made me pause and question the artist hustle our capitalistic society expects. I am currently working through solutions to a process that works in sync with my neurodivergent brain rather than fulfilling the expectations of others.
Angela Kerner, Salina, KS
Immediately, when I pulled out the stash materials that were sent to me, I knew I wanted to use this shadow box. This was given to me several years ago by a friend and has collected dust since then. The story I wanted to convey centers around a significant amount of dust. I have several different fabrics I tea dyed years ago that helped create a warm tone. A small set of string lights brought out the layers. This collection of provided materials pushed me out of my standard mode of presentation.
As far as art-making while staying home, I have mostly put my creative energy into making a cozy living space. It has been slow progress. I have not had much patience for projects that do not result in some sort of “utilitarian” product. This project broke me out of that for a bit. This piece is ephemeral, which is a direct response to that need for things to always be useful.
List of own materials used:
Shadow Box, tea dyed cotton fabric, small string lights
Ann Marie Morris, Salina, KS
My stash of hoarded art supplies and ephemera is vast. An entire room full of boxes, cubbies, files, and shelves full of every type of paint, paper, pen, and brush one could want. I suppose it was inevitable that I would collect such a horde, working for 20 years in the visual arts. I accrued supplies with each workshop, each conference, each birthday and Christmas, wishing I had more time to explore and experiment. I responded to your call to create a Stash project in a moment of optimism, a week before our holiday break from school. I was hopeful that making the commitment would force me to spend time creating over break. But weeks later, I had only thought about what I would do, no physical creation completed. I mentioned to an artist friend that I was excited about creating something, and she said, "I feel for you. If time were not an obstacle, what medium would you like to work with? What type of art would you create?" That question has put my head in a tailspin ever since.
This project gave me the parameters I so often give my students in creative challenges. You MUST use these supplies. This was a fantastic starting point for me. I laid all of the materials out several times, turning them over and over, then put them away again to cook breakfast or grade papers. It was several early mornings after Christmas that allowed me to wake up and spend long periods just thinking about my options. I pondered what substrate I would work with. I decided a canvas would be the most fun. The wrapping paper was tripping me up big time until I decided - of course! duh - I could turn it over and use the grid on the other side! I wondered how to use the envelope and plastic bag. I realized I could open it up and paint it - making crazily textured papers was one of the most fun projects I did with my special education class last fall - and heck, I could change the color of anything I received, couldn't I? I re-read the instructions and realized I didn't need to use ALL of the materials, just maybe a piece from each thing would be allowed. This freed up my thinking.
I found it interesting, as I started working in earnest, that HAVING to use each item was a restriction, sure, but it also took away my likelihood to second-guess each decision I made. I had a blast allowing the materials to speak to me as I layered them and observed how they worked or didn't work together.
Out of my own stash, I used an 11x14" canvas, acrylic paint, tacky glue, a Tombow glue I got from a conference (so good!), and a red fleur de lis tissue paper I had saved forever. I also ran across a horse portrait - that insisted he join in.
All in all, I am so thankful I said YES to this project because it not only was a blast to lock myself away and create, but it also showed me that my obstacle in making art more often is having quiet time to THINK. Looking back on this experience, it was very useful to receive a prompt or challenge, but most of my time was spent in planning and pondering.
Brad Friedman, Overland Park, KS
Brittany Noriega, Roeland Park, KS
Cary Odell, Kearney, MO & Katie Zemel, Overland Park, KS
After cleaning my basement I am convinced I am a yarnaholic. I like to knit and crochet hats and scarves to wear and give away. I like to look at it, touch it, and gritch at my cats when they interfere with me and whatever I am working on - haha.
This year when I received the materials I was less than enthusiastic. I felt a little cheated and wished I had MORE materials whaaaa. I carried the materials around with me hoping they would talk to me and they were mute. One day I brought a pencil cactus in kitchen from the outdoors along with some hot peppers I needed to clean and I was struck with my STASH vision. I took my supplies to work and engaged a woman I work with, we had a blast plotting and planning our little environment. We did a little origami, collage, and sewing. It was a great lesson for me to work through my lack of imagination with the materials. I ended up creating something fun and having a rich time doing it. Thanks buddy.
Craig Deppen Auge, Kansas City, MO
The title of my Stash Project piece is Ruby red/ the beach all to himself. I was drawn to this project because of my own use of recycled materials and a tendency to collect and combine little scraps. However, I ultimately decided to try and use only the materials given to me, as an additional challenge. The rules of using only everything provided became conceptually tied to resiliency, and finding meaning and order in the seemingly random. My initial approach was to cut and remix, building up texture, until a desired blending was achieved. This was my own response to the turbulence and compression of time that we all have been feeling these last couple of years. Pages were even cut down to fine confetti, and mashed together, altering the composite of the stash. The image of the red car was one that was so striking, I could not cut it. That, and two phrases “Ruby red” and “the beach all to himself,” really stuck out and became the guiding themes for the composition. A vague fiction developed around the car, “Ruby” (me) with its collaged cloud reflection on the wheel, and the “beach” of rubble and detritus, beautiful in its own disarray. And a signal going out, “10-4,” like a voice on the radio transmitting “I’m OK.”
Stash materials: Dyed fabric strips, vintage numbered tiles, wrapping paper, various magazine and book pages, wooden fork, mailing envelope, plastic ziplock bag, on recycled file folder.
Daniel McLean, Overland Park, KS
I’ve always been jealous and amazed of other Artist’s ability to take a bunch of random stuff thought or plan, completely off the cuff and create something AMAZING! So for this project I wanted to do something completely weird and give that a try.
The Title of this piece is called, “Inside Out House, A Day without Coffee.”
The list of supplies mailed are rapping paper, wooden fork, fabric, pieces of magazine pages, board game pieces, and the envelope. (I have no clue what happened to the plastic bag. (Rescue Crews are assuming the worst.)
Personal materials used were popsicle sticks, and hot glue.
Dick Daniels, Kansas City, MO
When I first received my envelope with the materials I was afraid I'd made a mistake by signing up to participate. Thinking- what am I going to do with this crap?
Initially I thought, just glue stuff down on a board, slap some paint on it and call it a day.
Or maybe just spray paint it all black.
But then I gave it more thought. The ribbons were the focal point. Made me think of my mother who was a seamstress her whole career. Then I thought I'd slice up everything in the width of the ribbons- the magazine pages, the colorful dot patterned wrapping paper, the plastic bag, the instruction page. Now I had piles of half inch strips.
Next I cut all the strips into 5 inch pieces and just looked at the piles. They reminded me of blades of grass, maybe because I'd recently seeded my lawn and was inspecting daily for new growth.
I decided to randomly string all the strips together using a thin wood dowel. I was liking the way it was looking. Colorful, a combination of textures and materials.
The experience of solving a challenge creatively took me back to my KCAI first year Foundations Department projects.
In the end I had 3 more pieces to deal with from the materials envelope- 2 plastic tiles with the numbers 3 & 7 and a wooden fork. I drilled holes and slid them on opposite ends of the dowell, like two ears and a dangling fork earring.
So, thank you Justin Border for including me in your Stash project. I had fun!
Jen Appell, North Kansas City, MO
At the beginning of April, just like the earth, everything felt anew.
It was a month of bliss. My partner had just moved back in after a separation. Our blended family was a-buzz with all kinds of positivity and growth. It looked like there was a light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic. Life seemed to be returning to some variety of normal.
On a rare weekend off, I went to the local farm supply to buy one thing but instead, I wound up with 4 chicks and two ducks. I was an easy mark.
I was not prepared. But like most of my life, I figured that I would figure it out.
These sweet little critters won all of our hearts. They lived in my office in a kennel for a month. And then I moved them out to a small coop and enclosure in my backyard.
All was sunshine and flowers for about a month and a half. Daily hand feedings. The chicks and ducks running my yard like a hilarious gang. The ducks always had a lot to say. The chickens were surprisingly cuddly. It was bliss.
And then the local raccoon discovered my little flock.
One by one, that trash panda massacred my sweet birds.
No matter how I fortified the coop or what defenses I put in place, like motion sensor lights or thoroughly researched handcraft organic repellents, the murderous raccoon outsmarted my system.
In the end, the raccoon won, and we all lost.
In a confluence of sucker punches, the birds died, my mother had massive health issues and my partnership was dissolving...again.
In all of that, I didn’t have the bandwidth to grieve and honor my flock.
When I received the package of materials for this project, the first thing I thought was, "Finally an opportunity to memorialize my beautiful flock." And here we are.
When the papier mache form dried and I was able to hold it, the floodgate opened. Tears and grief for the loss of my birds. Mourning, too, the loss of my relationship with my former partner and his children, who I will always love like they are my own.
This morning, I took the effigy out to the coop and wept.
The energy of all of these losses has transformed.
All these things, released.
All these things, released
Jen Appell
2021
Materials:
From STASH: wooden fork (beak form). dyed sheeting material strips, artbook pages & printed brown paper (feathers). envelope, plastic bag, and instruction sheet (papier-mache material). Rummy-o tiles (foot forms).
From my stash: packaging material and gaff tape (body form). flour, water, and salt (papier-mache paste). chopsticks and yarn (legs). sculpy (beak and feet). floral foam (support base). abandoned coop.
Kat King, Independence, MO
When I got the stash packet the thing that really stood out to me was the purple/silver fabric. I wasn't sure what to make because there were some brightly colored magazine pages that clashed. I remembered reading about a technique where you use nail polish remover on magazine pages to make some interesting collage pages. So I tried it! It brought out some really soft blues, greens, pinks, and purples, which fit well with the fabric that came in the packet. I was planning on making a collage piece at first. Something vaguely like a landscape but I kept meeting resistance and just wasn't excited to start that. Since Covid I've started following and connecting with so many artists on Instagram. I follow the work of several doll makers and have been so inspired lately. So I decided to make one, my first attempt ever. Meet Sage. She stands about 10 inches tall. She is here to remind us we carry all the wisdom of our ancestors. I also work at a Genealogy library, so I'm constantly reminded we have so much to learn from the past. And I love books so those were fun to make. I was super excited to incorporate some weaving also, which I lack the skill for but am very much drawn to. And will continue to practice. I moved a couple months ago and now have studio space. This is the first artwork I've created since and I loved the whole process! Though figuring out how to style the hair was definitely the most challenging part for me.
Stash materials mailed to me: several magazine pages, long piece of purple/silver fabric, long piece of orange/pink fabric, a wooden spork, 2 dominoes (or some sort of game pieces), colorful polka dot wrapping paper, mailing envelope, plastic bag
Materials from my stash: cotton balls, twine, brown packaging paper, woodgrain scrapbook paper, cardboard, crayon, super glue, artichoke stamped piece of a mailer envelope, 2 twigs, wood slice ornament, one small bird feather, sprig of rosemary
Kathleen Hill, Independence, MO
Piece is called: "The Bouquet of the Bride"
-Let go of the past, for the old is old and can be missed used. We must keep the past mistakes away from our future goals and dreams for our present state of mind will grow or die inside the box or bags we try to preserve them in. Fire will consume us dead or alive. Careful what you offer to the Moon. For God see it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly. -
Kirk Decker, Lawson, MO
I call this thing, “Sleeping Beauty’s Restless Dreams”
I got the packet of materials, spread them out on a countertop and sorta stared at the whole assortment. “Oh, boy… I’m a photographer, not an assemblage person… I’m going to have to think about this for a while…” I’d look at the objects, walk away, assemble something in my mind, come back, look at them, decide they wouldn’t fit together the way I had imagined. These thoughts repeated themselves over the next couple of weeks. It wasn’t until I picked them up and started working with them that the final idea occurred. Even then, the intersection of thought and what the material would do wasn’t a smooth one. At one point I thought, “I’ve got a wooden fork, I could do a burned at the stake idea, and simply torch the materials I can’t figure out and scatter the ashes at the base of the scene.”
Eventually all of the materials found a home. A little bit of double sided tape was used to keep the “pillows” from sliding off the “mattress” as well as to keep the “comforter” at her feet from unfolding.
Korey Rowswell, Maxwell AFB, AL
Korey Rowswell got his shit together and made a thing. He does embroidery, makes soft sculptures and generally rages at the state of American Healthcare.
Pipe cleaner, thread, hot glue
Don't ask why the butterfly is so angry.
Kris Devlin, Mission, KS
I wanted to do a bunch of different things with this challenge! so had several false starts. Ended up creating 8 characters inspired by Lynda Barry's "face jam" exercise, I tried to play with unique shapes and have fun! I enjoyed watching the characters reveal their personalities and then placing them in a digital background.
Leah Palmer, Kansas City, MO
The materials provided were quite dynamic, lots of different shapes and textures. This pushed me out of my normal mode. So I decided to add materials in my stash that were equally dynamic. I wanted to create something intentionally over the top.
This process got me thinking about what we celebrate, what we glorify, what we wrap up with a bow and decide is important. Sometimes, it’s what we truly want. Sometimes, our priorities are a little off. And sometimes, we get it wrong. But there’s almost always beauty in it.
Leslie Hill, Seattle, WA
By day I manage affordable housing for low-income seniors and people with disabilities. By night/weekend, I read, create, and travel when I can. I took up drawing six or seven years ago after checking out some books from the library and taking an urban sketching class. While I’ve always been creative, I started spending more time in creative pursuits a few years ago when I went through a major life change. I post on Instagram as BornFeetFirst - a moniker I came by honestly, as I came out the wrong way around!
I’ve had bursts of creativity and inspiration over the last 20 months interspersed with dry spells, but overall, I’ve had plenty of time to play with various materials and create a variety of pieces. A friend and I exchanged 10 small items as creative prompts, used them to inspire 20 pieces of art, and then had a mini art show on a rainy Sunday afternoon. That was so much fun!
These materials have been on my table since I received them, and I’d pass by trying to imagine what they would be. Would I turn an old cereal box inside out to create a NYC apartment building with windows made from the plastic and various scenes behind each one, the numbered tiles as doors? Or a shoebox diorama of… what? Then I was struck by a mobile, delicately balanced and light as air. I’ve never built a mobile before, but the strips of cloth, a photo of an old plane on one of the book pages, birds, sky… clouds.
So here is a mobile inspired by clouds. I wanted to use a few materials from my own stash as possible, focusing entirely and completely on the stash you sent.
The zip top from the baggie is wrapped around a drinking straw from my kitchen as the top bar of the mobile, and I cut the bamboo fork lengthwise in half for two side bars. The strips of fabric join all the cloud pieces. I glued the printed sides of the wrapping paper together and cut cloud shapes with the back/grid side as background for various phrases, words and pictures from the book pages and from the manila envelope. On one cloud, the barcode from the UPS label and the word “Stash” from the return address are prominent. The plastic tiles act as weights and balances for the piece, and a clear plastic cloud filled with confetti made from scraps of the book pages, manila envelope, bits of fabric, and pieces of the letter round out the piece.
Lou Brann-Border & Lucas Brann, Lawrence, KS
A little about our project...
My 11 year-old son and I decided to take on this fun art project together! Prior to this he hasn't had much experience with 3D art and I'm more of a "mom crafter". When we received our kit we both looked at the photos included and thought "dreams", from there we just let creativity take over. Here is what we call "the Fork Forest" to begin at the manila envelope - where your life is plain but "travel beyond your wildest dreams" (using an included fork). Starting with the Kansas sunflowers and winding through your wishes and dreamy locations. We used game pieces for the start & finish spots. The bag and paper in our kit were shredded with some fabric scraps that were included to make the grass/water. We also added some forks to the piece to complete our "dreams". This was such a fun project for my son and I and really challenged our creativity.
Ryan Bell, Kansas City, MO
"Wendigo"
Description of experience with materials-
I love being challenged to make things based on materials constraints, it’s something that I do often. I knew I wanted to make a cryptid for the project and also have most of the creature’s skin be the raw materials; not painted or disguised as something else. It was a fun creative exercise to spend some time with the materials and think about what cryptid I could make based on what I was given.
Experience making at home-
I love making things at home. We have tons of materials and tools on hand to make nearly anything I need and it’s nice to get feedback from my family, who are also artists.
Description of art-
I created a cryptid known as a Wendigo with my materials. A Wendigo is an evil spirit which originates from the folklore of First Nations in the United States and Canada. The wendigo is often said to be a malevolent spirit, sometimes depicted as a human/beast hybrid featuring antlers or horns and known to invoke feelings of insatiable greed/hunger.
This Wendigo is bipedal with gnarled feet and hands made of twisted & painted manilla mailer envelope. His arms are made of folded manilla envelope and his legs are made of a splintered bamboo spoon. His antlers are also made from spoon shards. His body is constructed of fabric and wrapping paper bits as well as some orphaned game tiles. He’s covered in fur made from clear plastic (ziplock), frosted vellum and printed white paper.
Materials-
Bamboo spoon
Manilla envelope
Ziplock bag
8.5 x 11 sheet of paper with print
3, pages torn from a book
Pink & yellow fabric scraps
Wrapping paper bits
2 game tiles
Frosted vellum bits (my stash of supplies)
2 small beads (my stash of supplies)
