Color Collecting on the Road

Numbered Jars in Wooden Boxes, 2009.

As we prepared for a month long road trip last summer I knew that it would be challenging to continue working while traveling. This is the time for creative collecting, helping to usher in the flow of new ideas and rejuvenate my energy. The camera is always at my side as I collect images of colors, textures, patterns, and other various oddities; I keep excessive notes about ideas ruminating and incubating in my head, but I was still seeking another method for gathering my experiences...

Processed Color Collection, 2009.

Eco Colour, by Australian Artist India Flint, is steeped with a wealth of adventurous methods and ideas; this was the initial inspiration I needed to get my mind out of its box, into jars, and into the VW Camper van for our road trip EAST. My husband knew I was up to something which surely involved loading the VW with MORE STUFF. The jars were quietly loaded, 6 quarts arranged in each wooden box. We traveled through 25 states, drove 5500 miles, and visited 55 people! We collected plant material along the way, documenting numbers, names, places, people, water sources, materials, everything. 

Three Processed Jars, 2009.

Each jar marked a specific experience with place and plants. The spirit of the project unfolded when the jars of collected color were processed in a hot water bath two months after our return.  Jar by jar the colors poured out. Some were quite beautiful, others quite dull. As a whole they are a map of our journey. This method for color collecting has become a routine practice, renewing my appreciation for the serendipity of natural color; it is a process full of delight and wonder and unexpected markings. 

Sorting Jars and Cloth, 2009.

Color Collection was part of the Eye Dazzler’s Exhibit at Convergence 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Then we head west with more jars...