Monthly Archives: April 2008

Installation of MLC Art Car in 2006

One of the influences on my art practice has been the 19th Century American tradition of memoryware.

“Memoryware” is the craft of affixing keepsakes to the outside of vessel as a memento, or series of mementoes, of one’s life.

This Art Car project derives from that tradition….it is a giant “Memorymobile” It is a collection of pre-loved plastic toys, bottle tops, and other detritus of our contemporary life. For the students, the toys represent their experience of play and development. Their donation of toys, to the project signify a maturity that they are too old for the toys anymore. The objects hold memory or shared memory of fun times and of being young and playful.

The car was encrusted with the toys and plastic objects in a fairly random manner yet ordered on the basis of colour. This provided an interesting view point from a distance where a particular colour can be seen but upon closer inspection, one can discern the variety of objects and the method of assemblage.
I am essentially a sculptor who uses mosaic; this project is taking the idea of mosaic to another level. Mosaic practice involves the arrangement of tesserae onto a surface. In this instance the ‘tesserae’ are toys rather than tiles.