Monday, December 15, 2008

Self-evident sign


This image was taken in a motel room in Winnipeg. It made me feel really good about myself, like when you watch jeopardy and you know the answer to a question already. This sign in the shower teaches people a little trick to avoid flooding the bathroom floor. When I read it I was like: "yep, I knew that one...good tip.." On the other hand, as happy and proud as that made me, I did worry a bit about being in a place where that the message didn't just go without saying.

Location: Thriftlodge Motor Inn, 1400 Notre Dome Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3E3G5
Submitted by: Jon Sasaki

Beach


This is a photo of a beach near Long Branch streetcar station, the most western stop on the Queen line. My memory is a bit hazy, but i think if you head south from the KFC, you'll eventually hit a little parkette. When you hop the fence and climb down a hill, you get to this stretch of shore. For some reason, really interesting things wash up here. Fragments of weirdo plastic toys. despite the fact that it's a ridiculous cliche, there was once an ol' rubber boot. Sometimes there are thousands of golf balls. Sometimes there are no golf balls. Once there was a coconut, and I wondered if it had somehow made its way up the eastern seaboard, defying the current of the St. Lawrence to end up there. I decided it's implausible.
Unrelated except by proximity, there is also a store near Long Branch station that sells nice old vacuum cleaners.

Location: Lake Promenade Park at the bottom of 38th Street in Toronto (Etobicoke), Ontario.
Details: Take the 501 Queen streetcar West to the Long Branch loop (or travel along Lakeshore Blvd W. to 38th Street). Follow 38th St. towards the lake. Hop over a guard rail and climb down a hill to the water.
Submitted by: Jon Sasaki

Accumulated Dryer Lint


This piece is a clump of 2 years worth of dryer lint.
I kept wondering what would happen if I didn't throw out my dryer lint. Eventually, curiosity overcame me, and I resolved to seek the answer to my question. Over the past two years, all my dryer lint has been placed into a glass jar. The jar filled up, and it was put into a blue plastic bin, where further lint was placed. Possibly within 10 years, the blue bin will be full.


From one perspective, I thought it was a waste of clothing. Why not keep the attrition and hire someone to turn it into yarn, and then new clothing?

On the other hand, it is beautiful in itself.

This lint was once useful too. There was a draft in our basement, so I used clumps of dryer lint to stuff the holes. The lint was the perfect malleability - it molded to the shape of the holes.

Oddly, I took pictures of the lint for this project because it was beautiful to me in itself. But as I was looking at the pictures close up on my computer, I discovered a whole new world, filled with dust, hair (both human and animal), sparkles, threads, dirt, waves of coloured felt and fuzz. From a distance, the world of lint clumps seems like a homogeneous grey; but up close, it's a vibrant jungle of colour.

Location: Guelph, Ontario.
Details: By appointment. (Please contact Already Art to make an appointment.)
Submitted by: Nathan Saliwonchyk