MIDWEEK MUSINGS: PLASTIFICATION

Diane Harper's Plastic Legacy exhibition opened Saturday at Gallery 26 in Hillcrest. What a nice early dinner and welcome back for my return from the west coast.

This local artist who happens to also be a social worker shared  her upcycled plastic "tchotchkes" (pronounced CHOTCH-kuhs), a Yiddish word referring to small, often cheap or ornamental, trinkets, knick-knacks, or novelty items... 

You know I love the idea of upcycling into art and these pieces had both play memories/ deeper cultural messages. Whether it was Disney, action figures/ those army men, we can conjure up our own interpretations...

Diane's diversified encaustic paintings and plastic figure art filled one wall anchored by driftwood floor sculptures and mobiles both at eye level and above our heads.  Her resin work was easy to spot sprinkled throughout the gallery.  

That rack on the far right held dangling spray-painted old phones. If only those princess phones could talk... Oh my, would we get an earful of our younger selves!

Notice our artist (R) is also color coordinated below- My kind of person.

You, the reader, can interpret this piece below on your own. Yes, that's a ram's head and human skeleton in the upper right and this author 's mirrored reflection. 

                              Can't wait to hear your captions...

I'll share mine after you share yours...