Brian Dettmer made a skeleton out of cassette tape cassettes. If you want to know how, all you have to do is look at the pictures. If you want to know why, well, there you go.
The kind of fun embodied by Brian Dettmer's Tape Cassette Skeleton has a very strong, but complex taste. The skeleton thing gives it that musty, dank, fear-like flavor. The tape cassettes add a minty, breath-freshening, born-again aftertaste. The re-use of tape cassettes to build a skeleton gives new life to the cassettes, while using them to create an image of death brings a hint of humor to the whole thing.
A significantly symbolic fun that proves to be, all in all, quite savor-worthy.
The site features an inspirational collection of games to get you started. You'll probably notice that almost all of the images are of adults engaged in deep explorations of wackiness. See, for example, Crazy Croquet with its cinder block wickets, Richieball (see the official Richieball site for the full rules,) and the highly evolved, Box Ball-like game of Smack Ball.
The contest has already begun. The entry deadline is August 10.
Clips of Joshua Allen Harris' playful and junkishly subway-powered inflatable street sculptures have been making several circuits of the blogosphere of late. Most deservedly so.
This one, aptly named Air Bear by harrisdanger, is a garbage-bag polar bear. It is multi-dimensionally delightful: lifelike, artful, surprising.
If it's June 28th, and you're somewhere near Venice Beach, CA, then come on down to the Venice Eco-Fest 2008, where you will find:
• Over 100 exciting Eco-Exhibitors with important planet preservation tips • Sun-powered Sound Stage - All day music, dance, poetry (see schedule below) • Kid’s Explor-o-rama with exotic animals, and interactive stories, music and FUN for all ages • Graffiti Artists at work using eco-friendly paints on the world famous Venice art wall • Food Court with delicious vegetarian delights • E-Salvage Recycling Truck in Ross Parking Lot for LARGE e-waste Bring your used: Computers & Monitors, Laptops, TVs, Stereos, DVD & VCR Players, Scanners, Fax Machines, all kinds of Electronic Accessories, computer and cell phone batteries, etc. • E-Salvage Recycle Bin on the Beach for SMALL e-waste **Bring your used: Cell Phones & Accessories, Cell Phone Batteries, Laptop Battery only • Filtered Water Stations - BYO reusable water bottle! • Million Trees Campaign Tree Give-away • Green Outposts for recycling/waste/and compost • PLUS-- Free Bike Valet on the handball court!
If only they had thought about including a JunkFest, it woulda been perfect.
Robots. Robots made from junk, like these, from Lockwasher.
I was first introduced to the wonders of junk robots by the artist Liz Mamorsky when I was developing the prototype for Thing-a-ma-Bots.
My fascination with the play value of junk in general, and this junk art form, in particular, has just taken one more small step for Berniekind.
Speaking of giant leaps for mankind, I am now imagining a Terracotta Army, you know, like all those statues of soldiers in formation they found in China? - only made of junk art robots. Huh? How's that for something you'd go to a museum to see (and be proud as heck to see) your very own home-made junk robot join the ranks of?
The title of the collection of images is Extraordinary Art from Metal - another remarkable collection from the remarkably collectible people at Dark Roasted Blend. Of this particular collection, the Dark Roasted Blenders comment: "Todesfee has collected in this set whimsical sculptures made from not so funny material: scrap military metal, left from the Yom Kippur War (Mount Bental was the site of large-scale tank battles in 1973)."
Thus, we uncover yet another fun flavor, one which I find myself impelled to name "ironic fun." Scrap iron, don't you know, from tanks and stuff of military horror, transformed into a funny, junky sculpture of two cartoon-like figures, trying to shake hands, and yet, because of their very ironically iron-like nature, doomed to fail.
Frances Henson VanLandinham's Children Will Play: Games and Toys from Simpler Times is a collection of "childhood memories," gathered from family, friends and neighbors, most of whom grew up during the depression, when times where perhaps simpler, but definitely far more difficult than most of us currently enjoy. Hence this lovingly illustrated collection describes handmade toys and homemade games - folk games and toys that are truly inspirational accounts of play and love, creativity and spontaneity, of imagination and free-range joy.
I quote from the introduction: "Children will play under almost any circumstances. I've observed children at play while cold and hungry. Even while living in an abusive environment, children play. Children don't have the verbal skills to communicate their pain and suffering, so they express pain as well as joy through play. Children play through times of social upheaval. During wars and natural disasters, children play."
The book describes how to play Appalachian jump rope, how to make corncob darts, milk can trains, bark sleds, plantain dolls, stick cows, hollyhock dolls, handkerchief dolls. It is full of stories of almost heroic celebrations of Christmas, when there was barely enough money for food.
It is a history of the human spirit. Something to treasure. Something from which to draw inspiration and hope. And it could very well open new pathways to fun, for all of us.
It can only be ordered ($12 plus $2.00 US shipping) from the author. Send your check or money order to Frances Henson ValLandingham, 812 Poga Road, Butler, TN 37640. Call 423-768-2261 for more information. Email FrancyMay34@aol.com
Here's a moment of inspiration as seen on a Backyard TV. I quote:
"Daniel took the TV outside and smashed it in. Then we all got out the paints and started making the TV beautiful. What a great family project. I don't think I need to explain why we did it. Most of you already know how we feel about media and advertising. I believe we waste way too much time with it on. It's so tempting to plop down in front of it when you are tired from life. But why are we so tired? Why don't we have the energy to do the things we really want to do? Maybe if we weren't staying up late watching the tv we wouldn't be tired the next day:)"
In September of 1936, a man named "Red Jones," whose claim to fame was manifest in the variously lovely musical instruments he made and played - out of pipe tools and fittings - managed to attract the attention of no less a publication than Modern Mechanics.
And it made me think about how old of a tradition this thing is, this art, one must call it, of repurposing, of playing with, of finding and creating and sharing delight - with, junk.
Yes, my friends, it's true. It's what you've been waiting for for so many years that you forgot you were waiting. It's: Underpants Tug-of-War, at last!
Apparently (until some well-versed translator can explain otherwise), you get two pairs of panties (and/or underpants), joined by a single string (or perhaps elastic something). You and your partner place these panties on your respective heads, and proceed as illustrated.
My guess is that you lose your panties, you lose the game.
Oh, the fun, the silliness, the sheer, suggestive ribaldry of it all.
I, however, when I put together the words "game" and "panties," find myself having fond memories of yet another game, which I would explain, except that it's not relevant, other than its pantyhose-on-the-headness, as illustrated herein, , which, in turn, makes me think that one could everso easily make one's own Panty-tug-of-war-like game out of a pair of pantyhose, or perhaps two.
Pantyhose-Tug-of-War. A new, playworthy, and clearly Junkyard-type Sport. And you read about it here.
"These funny clowns are made at the spectacular Foz do Iguacu (Iguassu Falls), which sits at the point where Brazil meets Argentina and Paraguay. Here, there are always beautiful, lush green plants growing everywhere, so no wonder the kids there have incorporated grass into their toys! Meet the Grass Head Clown, which is often decorated with the colors of the rainbow, the same colors created from the mist of Iguassu Falls which falls along 350-foot cliffs of river. The child who made this particular toy used all recycled materials: a pair of her mother's old' stockings, a piece of scrap ribbon, sawdust she found lying around her father's wood shop, and a small handful of grass seeds. As a result of assembling all this "junk" together, she has a toy that's fun for any boy or girl to make and play with . . . especially if they like to cut hair! These toys have become so popular in Iguassu Falls that some of the children make them and sell them to tourists who come to see their town. So they are not only toys, but they are also a way for the children to make a little money of their own.
"We like to call the Grass-Head Clown the original Chia Pet!"
Heather Jansch makes horses out of driftwood. Driftwood. Lovely, lovely junk from the sea. She explains:
"I was tired of following in other peoples footsteps. I had been working with copper wire and the sculptures were like Da Vinci’s line drawings but lacked the power I wanted. One day I while I was out my son could not find any kindling wood to light the wood-burner and had chopped up a piece of ivy that had grown round a fencing stake, he had left behind a short section that I immediately saw as a horse's torso of the right size to fit straight into the copper wire piece I was working on. The next question was where could I find more or similar shapes and the answer was of course driftwood."
"On my trip last June I walked by this propane tank just down the road from the friend's cabin where I was staying. It's always fun being surprised by someone's whimsy just when you are least expecting it!"
"Kansas," did you know, "is a national leader in grassroots or self taught folk art."
Did you further know that self taught folk art is probably one of the best examples of what I sometimes, but not often call "the persistence of playfulness"?
"Pronunciation: 'dik-sh&-"ner-A-O-ke dOt-Org Definition: This site features parodies of popular songs using karaoke-style backing music with vocals provided by audio pronunciation samples from online dictionaries. All of these songs are available for download in MP3 format on our main index page."
The Cardboard Tube Fighting League, despite appearances and adult-like anticipations, is a highly disciplined, well, maybe not highly, but at least somewhat disciplined play fight.
I exemplify by citing the admirably explicated rules:
First Rule of CTFL: Don’t break your tube. In a duel, the last person with an unbroken tube is declared the winner. In the event that both participants break their tubes at the same time, the game is a draw, and both duelists are considered losers.
No stabbing. Lunges involving tubes are never allowed under an circumstances. Participants who exhibit this behavior, will be ejected from the entire event.
Try not to work the face. Hitting people in the face is heavily frowned upon and can force your ejection from the event.
Once your tube is broken you must stop fighting.
To participate you must be using an official CTFL tube, which will be provided at the event, and have signed a release waiver.
You may not block your opponents tube with your arms hands or legs.
Your tube must always be held near the bottom. Holding your tube in the middle at any time is illegal.
catbishop's Recycled Assemblage photoset, is what you might call it. Wonderfully faith-restoring signs of playfulness, is what I see. Junk, genuine junk, like, for example, a dirtbike gas tank, a bocce ball, a jigger, and two gooseneck lamp bases, transformed into a, well, duck. Or something enough like a duck to be clearly ducky, duckish, and ducklike.
Recycled, plastic bottle, tree hangings - somewhere in Russia, boquets of plastic bottles hang like chandeliers from tree branches. They are silly. They do not cast light. And yet, they shed light. They are beautiful, and they restore hope, and connect us a little more intimately, transnationally, to the very thing we all are playing for.
It's the The Art Car Fest! "The West Coast's Largest Gathering of Art Cars!" And you're looking at "Tom Kennedy's 'Ripper the Shark & Max the Fin Truck'" - Tom Kennedy being one of the artists whose presence will grace the First Annual Redondo Beach Junkfest.
"The unique aspect of our medium," say the Fest-designers, "is that we bring art into the world every day as we drive our vehicles to work, to the store and on the highway." Very fun stuff, these art cars, transforming reality, like all good art.
ArtCars. Another kind of Junkyard Sport, it seems to me. A whole nother kind.
Here's the artists' statement: "Our source objects are fundamental to the world’s oil distribution infrastructure, and are pertinent examples of our culture’s unmatched production of carbon dioxide. By altering these symbolically rich objects, the sculpture is a celebration of humankind’s raw power on earth, a visual metaphor for non-sustainability, and a contemplation of our unique ability to recognize and change our most destructive actions."
Here's mine: It takes a practiced and playful eye to imagine how two old trucks could become a monumental two-headed snake. Yes, yes, it is a monument that plays with power and fear and waste. But, most of all, a monument to the power of fun to transform and embrace even the rawest edges of our world.
Sensory Impact editor Adnan Arif writes: "This multimedia art installation titled 'Human Nature' by Federico Uribe (see "Installations") ... (gives) a new lease of life to discarded shoes, Uribe has reconstructed a forest environment and animals including rabbits, gorillas, cheetahs, and swans. Created completely from Puma shoes and laces, these 'animals' are a spectacle in themselves as well as triggers contemplation of our environment."
And I comment, as I am wont to do: Puma sneakers. One can't help wondering if it's perhaps beyond coincidence. Puma sneakers. Being used to create (other) animals. In fact, I think image #10 might be a Puma-puma, gorily eating some other hapless sole.
It is delight upon delight, this art, this beauty, this achievement, this masterfully re-purposed silliness.
(don't miss his collection of "torsos" made of things like clothespins, screws, pencils, pennies....)
Note how the designer keeps to the "assemblage" spirit of Junkyard Golf - not really securing anything to anything or ataching anything - just putting things together.
Not also the devotion, dedication, degree to which this whole silly thing is taken seriously.
Food as art is a concept that should be at least as close to one's heart as it is to one's stomach.
I know, I know, I've written about this before. But I was recently reminded of the art/food/fun connection again when I got a response to a Craigslist ad I had written for "found object artists." I was looking for artists who wanted to show their work at the First Annual Redondo Beach JunkFest, and one of the responses I received was from a fellow named Bryan Au who thought that his work with raw foods would somehow prove JunkfFst-worthy. "Raw foods," I thought to myself, "how very much the opposite of junk food, and yet how perfectly this art fits into the whole JunkFest concept. I clicked. I read. I laughed. I loved.
For more food art, see also this and these and perhaps for desert some of this, followed by a bit of this.
Found-object/assesmblage artist Barbara Irwin writes:
"One of the reasons that I enjoy creating found object/assemblage art is that it allows me to use anything and everything, old or new. My assemblage work stems from what I call 'whim of combination.' Sometimes things come together quickly and easily and other times it takes weeks, months, and years, to find that missing piece that ties it all together. I use objects that I find in antique shops, thrift stores, and garage sales, or that I find in the street and in people’s curbside junk piles....I love found object/assemblage art because allows me to look at an object and imagine a new way of using it. For me, found object/assemblage art is total play, total fun, and total joy. I get so much satisfaction out of giving something a new life. The more we see, the more we see that there is to see. The only limit is our own imagination."
Kevin Kelly's blog Street Use is "a solo effort to record the way in which people actually use technology versus how engineers imagined it would be used." Kelly might be familiar to the wiser children of the 60's and 70's because of his involvement with the Whole Earth Catalog. He "launched (and co-edited) the new Whole Earth Catalogs: The Essential Whole Earth Catalog, The Whole Earth Ecolog, the Fringes of Reason, and Signal: a Whole Earth Catalog of Communication Tools."
But, despite his many projects and works of wonders, it is his Street Use blog which hits closest to our shared home, we who engage in repurposing the world for play.
Many are the theories that embrace the various phenomena known by some under the general rubric of Shoe Tossing. Yet, from the various manifestations of shoefiti to the remarkably collective testimony of the shoe tree, no single explanation has emerged. Is it an act of vandalism, of desecration, or perhaps some more hopeful sign of the human spirit emerging from its own trash heap?
Some, as the writer of the Roadside America article on shoe trees (op. cit.), see shoe tossing as a semi-noble artistic pursuit, starting "with one dreamer, tossing his or her footwear-of-old high into the sky, to catch on an out-of-reach branch. It usually ends there, unseen and neglected by others. But on rare occasions, that first pair of shoes triggers a shoe tossing cascade. Soon, teens are gathering up their old Adidas and Sauconys, families are driving out after church with Dad's Reeboks and grandma's Keds. The shoe tree blooms with polymer beauty. A work of art like this may last for generations, tracing our history by our sneakers . . . as long as the tree doesn't die."
As for me, I prefer the happier, less trodden shoe-tossing sport, known by the Fortunate Few as Shoeshoes.
I found this amazing shadow sculpture "(made from junk by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Dirty White Trash [With Gulls], 1998 | six months’ worth of the artists' rubbish)" by following a link contributed by Instructables memberiamnotsancho while checking out this wonderful Instructables instructions, as it were, on how to make shadow sculptures out of junk.
All of which is to point to yet another amazing artistic exploration of junk, and junkly exploration of art, and manifestation of the transforming power of play.
You are probably not aware of the nascent filmic extravaganza called "Going Nuts," a stop-motion film in which "a prestigious fairytale illustrator is hired by the psychiatric hospital director. His job there will be to decorate the hospital walls with his drawings to improve the place’s atmosphere. It seems like an easy task but things get complicated when the sketcher discovers a dark corridor from where chilling screams come out." And now informed by the clarity of the preceding synopsis, you may still be taken by surprise by the discovery that the illustrator is, himself, a nut. And he's not the only one. In fact, all the characters in the film are nuts. Peanuts.
Yes, you heard me correctly. Peanuts. Hence the title.
Hence, also, the topic of today's post - a most visually snack-worthy contest, whose results are herein featured, inviting the masses to submit their own, hand-drawn, peanut characters.
Another taste of whimsy, and art, and a junklike, commercially-sponsored rejuvenation of the spirit of play.
Going to their site is an experience of art, inventiveness and humor - wonderfully refreshing, inspiringly positive. Which at least partially explains why Patrick has composed a calendar called Folk Art for Schools to help raise funds for the local school system.
I found this quote in an article from the San Francisco Chronicle. In it, Amiot gives us a glimpse of the almost spiritual joy with which he transforms the world: "I'm a junk specialist...I try to buy as little as I can. Nothing beats the flea market. It's my church and my temple. People throw stuff away that I consider valuable. I can do so many things with it. They chuck it in the garbage one day. I transf
Brian Dettmer made a skeleton out of cassette tape cassettes. If you want to know how, all you have to do is look at the pictures. If you want to know why, well, there you go.
A Handheld Skating and Snowboarding Sail
Thing-a-ma-Bots
Here's a moment of inspiration as seen on a 
whose claim to fame was manifest in the variously lovely musical instruments he made and played - out of pipe tools and fittings - managed to attract the attention of no less a publication than 
Modern Mechanics.
Underpants Tug-of-War
, which, in turn, makes me think that one could everso easily make one's own Panty-tug-of-war-like game out of a pair of pantyhose, or perhaps two.
The Cardboard Tube Fighting League
catbishop's Recycled Assemblage
Recycled, plastic bottle, tree hangings
It's the 
This
Food as art
