Finding art in cast-offs

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Salvaged Beauty

Here's one of my favorite pieces ever. It's made largely from discarded objects I salvaged from a dump site on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. If you look closely you'll recognize a rusted sardine tin, bottle cap, glass jar lid and silver lining from chewing gum wrappers. What is so special about this piece is that I made it while on an art retreat with some of my most favorite people, surrounded by the stark beauty of the desert southwest.


Cindi Powell (aka "Piz") and I had so much fun scrambling over the discarded junk, gleefully pulling out treasures from the unstable, chaotic mound.

"Are you up to date on your tetanus shots?" Piz asked, her R.N. training taking over.

"Probably," I shot back, completely undeterred.

Her only response was her unrestrained giggle; we were having too much fun to let things like possible lockjaw slow us down.

And so we dragged back a huge pile of "treasures" to the communal room we used for making art. Adding just a few beads and some milagros I had purchased at a flea market, I let the beauty of the "trash" shine through.