twenty two

This is an envelope from a letter that was mailed to. I think there is so much to be said for letter writing over emailing or texting. Letters show real care and time and attention that nothing else really parallels. I like this because I know where it was before it was with me but I don't know anything about the process. I can picture the sender placing it in the mailbox and from there nothing-until I pulled it out of my mail slot here. You can envision the change of hands and all of the places that this little envelope traveled. 

twenty one

This is a grocery list from some time over spring break when I went to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make my mother soup because she was sick. I think it is interesting to look at an old grocery least because, at least for me, I remember everything about that day when I wrote those things out on the paper. And grocery lists are so mundane and useless after you go shopping, but it is so cool to look at something and know everything else that preceded it. 

twenty

A few weeks ago my friend picked a flower for me and left it in an envelope hanging on my door. I saw it and thought it was cool but sort of just forgot about it until I noticed that it was turning into a pressed flower, which I didn't think could just happen, but I guess that makes sense. I left it there a little longer to see what else would happen. I like how the color is still vibrant even though it is dead. Usually, when you imagine something that is dead you think of pale or no color, or maybe black, grey, or white. 

nineteen

I found this by the crescent townhouses and I think it is so cool. It's a friendship bracelet in St Mary's colors. Friendship bracelets using this string braiding strategy called Chinese staircase are a staple among college kids and more specifically my friends. It's fun to sit around making them and trading them and wearing them on your wrist or ankle until they get stretched out and fall off. After a while, they start to become a part of you and you stop noticing them. This bracelet probably fell off of someone's wrist while they were walking because the place where it had been tied was weak because they had had it on for so long. It is probably creepy but I am going to start wearing it.

eighteen

I found this by Goodpastor. What really drew me to it was the pigment on the creases; I found that to be especially interesting. Also, the paper is almost soft. It seems like someone carried this in their pocket for months, so long that the dye from the jeans colored the creases. And I wonder why someone would do that. Maybe they forgot it or maybe it was something that brought them good luck. 

seventeen

I found this green square in front of my dorm and I'm not sure what it is. It feels almost waxy, which is strange and possibly gross. I like that it has an even rhythm of vertical (or horizontal depending on your perspective) grooves. It isn't art but it is interesting.

sixteen

I found these on my desk at school. They are menthol patches that I wear almost every day. I started saving them for no particular reason; I guess just to see how many I could amass in a short period of time. I noticed them because they look kind of interesting, almost like the beginnings of something else when they are put together like that-and they smell very strongly. I think sometimes that this is how the process of art making begins. You notice something that you'd never noticed before or you see something differently than you'd seen it before and your mind works over it until you've got some sort of concept. These menthol patches remind me of Steven Holl architecture because of the smell. Not that Steven Holl works with menthol, but because he sometimes gives his buildings an atmospheric feel by coating the walls in beeswax or something like that. The idea of making something that controls the viewers experience so thoroughly that even their sense of smell is engaged is really interesting to me.