h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Go on then, tell us...

What's a cheese box and how do you make one?

Joe C

I've always be quite curious about it too...

How have you been keeping lately?

I was going to ask you about cheese boxes too, but then I saw this conversation and I thought "Well, this will tell me all about cheese boxes so I won't have to bother Terri with that question" But alas this thread is not telling me about cheese boxes...does Terri check her messages? Is there an entry about cheese boxes that I could refer to?

Aw, merde, putain, j'oublier this one! (that's for Toybox!)



Ok, in brief: i make 3D scenes using mainly naturally found stuff (objét trouvées if you want to be posh, sorry about the accents!), if you want the "arty" term it is assemblage art.

Symbolic visual stuff, often with a subtle pun, like "The rights of Spring", nest with broken egg & coiled metal springs, all very jolly until you look at it carefully & see the fact that most baby birds don't live long (thanks Yoda)

When i first started doing this, i was broke & couldn't find any frames/boxes etc to house the things, then a mate of mine said "You daft bugger, you live in France, you are surrounded by cheese-boxes, let's go down to the market & get some!" So we did & i now have a collection of dozens of nice wooden crates, about half of which have been turned into things! Just about to start another one in fact.

I haven't got round to taking pics of them yet (still broke, no film!) but i will one day soon 'cos i am probably going to have an exhibition of them; some people are obviously even more than me if they decide they like looking at such things!

Some of them are decidedly strange, i am not averse to using things like mummified lizards & human hair (it's great for suspending things, transparent & very strong!)& most of them are "interactive" ie i encourage people to touch thm (with respect), make things move about etc.

The master of the art of assemblage was Joseph Cornell, sadly dead now, but quite a few other s follow his traditions, this one is a favourite of mine, a New Zealand lady called Dale Copeland, she has exhibited all over the world:

http://virtual.tart.co.nz/Dale/dale.htm

If you visit her site, do sign her guestbook & say you are from h2g2 via me, we are in email contact; you never know, one day we may even meet up!

Any more questions i will happily answer...& if anyone wants to send me any little bits of their own local rubbish, i will treasure them & eventually incorporate them into a cheese-box!



Terri

Wow, those sound so cool! Not all that weird at all. I love stuff like that.

Jolly good! I shall invite you to my expo!

Now, for my next trick, i require a private patron of the arts to sponsor me...those Saatchi lot will do nicely, anyone got the address?

zdt

The Saatchi Gallery
County Hall
Southbank
London
SE1 7PB

Well, once i manage to take some pics of them, i will send them; you never know!

*prepares for fame & riches & promises not to abandon her hootoo mates*

zdt

[signs up to be "hanger on"]

Be careful, i will hang strange objects from you & mummify your body; there are easier ways of achieving fame!

Anyway, getting on nicely with my latest one, no title yet; it's a curved old roof tile, covered in moss , in front is a double curved piece of weird bark with holes in. In front of that is an ancient bit of piping, shaped like (to my mind)an old tower. The bark is suspended by guitar strings from a very strange rusty ancient curly hinge type thing; the sides & back of the box are partly covered with torn up sections of a 1947 music book. this is IMPOSSIBLE to describe!!!

Someone send me a film & i'll show you!

*continues waiting for glue to dry so she can stick other bits on*

zdt

Finally finished it today! Gave up on the guitar strings, too heavy looking & dominating the other stuff, so used fishing line instead. Very fiddly dismantling & putting it back together, but i often do this, think "oh, it's ok" but know it isn't really. Leave it for a while, eyeing it up & feeling dissatisfied, then eventually go back to it & sort it out.

Also hung an old..dunno, rusted sort of bit of padlock? Anyway, it echoes the other arch shapes nicely & acts like a metronome, swinging to & fro. The bits of torn up old music book work well. Quite pleased with it.

zdt

Hi Terry,

I came to check it out as you advised. Please get some photos up, I'd love to see your cheeseboxes as they sound really interesting. That sort of thing sells for a small fortune in Greenwhich market! Do you make yours to sell or do you keep them for yourself?

QB

Hi QB, great to see you here! So far i've just been doing them for myself, but various people have been nagging me to have an exhibition & i've finally given in! So i am having an expo June 14th to 27th, here in Angoulême, not as grand as it might sound, it's basically in a small community centre, but being sponsored by the Social & cultural organisation, so it's a good start. If anyone wants to buy them, they can, BUt i will price them according to other stuff i've seen on the uinternet, so doubt that anyone will! (similar stuff seems to go for between $300 to $1000 & piece)Also there will be some paintings & photos of UK in Thatcher years, lots of punks & stuff, hoping to get live punk music for the gala night!!

If i can get some digital photos done, i will put them somewhere & give a link on here, but at the momentt i'm concentrating on making a few more & getting publicity & stuff together.

Just finished another one called "You can't get blood out of a turnip!"inspired by something JEllen said on hootoo.



zdt

Cor, "you lot" are an inspiration! Just finished another one in record time, working title "midsummer nights dream" from manic vixen's thread of same name: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/F1720218?thread=424287&post=5359498#p5359498 zdt (1st person to send me a digital camera gets free cheesebox commissioned to order! NOT joking!!!)

Have sort of website, as of about 2 hours back, it will improve i promise!(sorry about pop-up ads, freebie website) Still no pics, but we live in hope & poverty!

http://punk2junk.tux.nu/

It's a start; seeing Vero who is organising the expo tomorrow, hope she can help me get photos sorted, can't go much further until this happens, very frustrating!

zdt

Vero can't make it today, BUt is going to try & get photos sorted.

Oh dear, all this "let's be an " stuff is turning out to be pretty hard w**k too! Spent all day so far writing notes & on the computer (which of course has decided to play silly buggers again! Another case of "bad timing" )

Trying to find out if i could get funding, or support of some sort, from the fact that Angoulême is twinned with Bury in Uk. There is a website full of gobbledegook, which i have been ploughing through, given up for now, will look later.

http://www.lgib.gov.uk/intcoop/intcoop_f4_3_1b.htm

But there is also a "maison des jumelages" (house of twins!) here in town, i think it might be simpler to go & see them in person!

I sent an email to dale copeland, the New Zealand who does similiar stuff to me, who is now exhibiting all over the world very successfully, asking her advice on the stuff i am going through about having this expo, she just replied, which has cheered me up a lot!

<< feel for you Terri. Nothing anyone can do to help except say "keep
going". It's the art that matters, not the pics on the Web, not the
sales, not the publicity. Not the money either, though that's easier to
say than to live. Stick with it, you're not alone.
I also did the redefinition bit in my forties. Gave up the steady
income, the status, the safety. Have never regretted it a bit. So hang
on in there, keep going. And all the best.
dale


--
Dale Copeland
outofsight http://outofsight.co.nz/Dale
Virtual TART http://virtual.tart.co.nz
and http://govettbrewster.co.nz>>

Aw, how lovely that she got straight back to me! Do go & visit her site to see how it should be done ( i think her boxes are fantastic) & say hello on her guestbook

zdt

Wow, that was a really nice letter you got back!

Looked at your website too. Can't wait to see the pics. Do you have any non-digital pics that you could scan in somewhere?

No scanner, printer that doesn't work: we are dealing with major techno-obstacles here! Hopefully some of them might get sorted after tomorrow. It's immensely frustrating to say the least.

zdt

kids, we have definite progress!

In a nutshell:

I have an agent, contract & stuff & have at least got one cheesebox i can show you, this is still the temporary website, & is a bit slow to download, but if you bear with it & go to "Gallery" then "cheeseboxes" you can see the first one i did; comments very welcome (they don't have to be nice; i prefer honesty & no bull**it!)

More details on my journal "Bird's Eye" thread.



zdt