American Myths

Before smartphones, before digital cameras and camcorders, there was film.  Using crude machines that exposed sensitive chemicals we recorded our lives or the lives of others, or perhaps a moment in history.

This found object piece began with discarded things: a Brownie camera (shelf in a barn), a broken Statue of Liberty (found on the street in NYC), a glazing pipette (in a ruined pottery), a pulled molar (in my mouth) and some 16mm film (?).  They became, 'The New World'.

A rubber glove (washed ashore), bone (ditto), a movie reel (in an abandoned warehouse), piano wire (from a discarded piano), a cork and bottle shard (on a beach) became 'The Superhero'. Once one of these pieces seems complete, once the name gets attached, I need to check on the myth from which these compositions grew (in me?).  Are these two pieces evidence of American Myths?   I am between the generation that saw the United States as the 'New World' and the generation that grew up with superheroes as our role models.  Movies, once a rare and magnificent treat, spill indiscreetly out of my computer and flatscreen. From old found stuff, old stories emerge.