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A Collector’s Passion

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The hobby of collecting is defined as the “seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector”, and the range of collections is well,….. unlimited because there are no rules in collecting and collectors’ passions are as diverse and unique as each individual collector.

Collecting also has a long history that can be traced to book collecting in ancient Egypt, art patronage and collecting during the Italian Renaissance period (14th – 16th centuries), and the acquisition by affluent scholars of unusual items (called “cabinet of curiosities”) beginning in the 16th century.

There are many theories as to what compels so many of us to collect things.  Like rubber bands — oh yes,  @zeester must admit to a compulsion to collect rubber bands, sea shells, rocks and wine corks. The yen felt by collectors may be connected to the human ‘hunter – gatherer’ survival instinct, but could also be fulfilling some psychological need relating to aspects of memory, organization, or purpose.  Whatever the reason, hobby collectors find fun in collecting as well as profit, and their personal stories are as fascinating as the collections they’ve created.

Billy Wilder (1906-2002), a legendary filmmaker, was an avid art collector. He described his passion for collecting as a “sickness”, and said, “I don’t know how to stop myself…………Name an object and I collect it.” There is no denying, however, Wilder enjoyed his hobby, saying it was “more fun than making movies”, and he acquired one of the finest and most extensive art collections in Hollywood. In 1989, a large selection of paintings and sculptures from his collection sold at auction for $32.6 million.

Edward Wharton-Tigar (1913-95), a decorated WWII British spy and business executive with a passion for cricket and collecting, amassed the world’s largest collection of cigarette cards (over 2 million).  His entire collection which includes a rare T206 Honus Wagner card is held by the British Museum.  After more than 75 years of collecting, Wharton-Tigar considered his “collector’s mania” an inherited trait.  “My mother had it and so did my grandmother. If you have it, you have it. There is simply nothing you can do about it. You are driven by this desire to complete things.”

It’s a WOW — an old garage full of beautiful classic cars!  Lenny Shiller from Brooklyn NY talks about his motivation to collect classic cars and the enjoyment he has working on his eclectic collection in the video Lenny’s Garage from Bullrush Films.

 

Ξ More collectors tell their stories ⇒  WATCH:  Collector Confessions  

 

The awarding of medals can be traced back thousands of years, and they are specialized art form valued for their artistic beauty and history.In Heads and Tales: The Odyssey of a Medals Collector, art collector and historian, Stephen K. Scher, tells the story behind the building of his medals collection, including the motivation, temptations, mistakes, and successes. It’s a rare opportunity to learn from a collector’s personal experience.

 

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Information/References:
Wikipedia:  Collecting, T206 Honus Wagner
The Los Angeles Times, November 14, 1989 (Wilder Auction)
The New York Times, August 30, 1989 (Wilder Auction)
The Independent, September 3, 1994 (First Hand: I constantly dream about my card collection)

Feature photo of a troll doll collector is courtesy of Grastisographry CC0

Art Transforming Trash

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“The opposite of beauty is not ugly… it’s indifference.” — Richard Lang

There are many complex issues involved in the elimination of pollutants from the environment, but there’s at least one problem easy to identify and understand — trash.  Take just one walk on a beach, and you’ll quickly see the ugly truth.

More than 8 million tons of plastic makes its way into the Ocean each year, and the stuff doesn’t go-away or disappear.  Just one plastic bag takes 1,000 years to decompose.  Much of this garbage can be seen floating on top of the ocean surface.  Between California and Hawaii, the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is more than double the size of Texas, and it’s just one of many similar floating debris patches.

Ray Ives, a retired Royal Marine and commercial diver, saw even more during his 40+ years of deep sea diving,……“You can’t believe some of the things people dump in the sea.  It’s like the biggest rubbish dump in the world”.

Artists are using their creative talents in amazing ways to help make positive change as their works of art bring attention to the plastic pollution problem the world faces and inspire all of us to “rethink plastic”.

Gyrecraft is a short film about crafting objects at sea, in the past with whale’s teeth and in the future with plastics collected from Ocean waters.

Studio Swine went on a 1,000 nautical mile journey through the North Atlantic Gyre, from the Azores to the Canaries, collecting plastics as they sailed.  (The North Atlantic Gyre is one of five large systems of circulating ocean currents.  The vortex of currents traps man-made marine debris into a large, dense floating debris zone called  the ‘North Atlantic Garbage Patch’.)  Using a specially designed ‘Solar Extruder’ machine, the plastic pieces collected during the trip were melted on board ship with heat from the Sun, creating a ‘sea plastic’ material used to create art works.

 

In the short video, Sea Chair, watch as a stool is built on a boat from the plastic collected in a fisherman’s nets.

 

Since 1999, Richard and Judith Selby Lang have been visiting a special spot at Kehoe Beach at the Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California, collecting plastics that have washed up on shore. The Lang’s then take their treasures home, wash and sort the items, and create works of art.  Over the years, they’ve collected tons of the stuff, learned a lot about ocean pollution, and discovered each little bit of found plastic has an interesting story to tell and provides an insight into human culture.

 

Aurora Robson is a multi-media artist known for her work with waste materials, and the founding artist of Project Vortex a collective of creatives who work with plastic debris as a medium and support organizational efforts to reduce the amount of plastic littering the oceans and shorelines of the world. She has said the intention of her art is “to take something negative, try to change the direction it’s going, and turn it into something positive”.

 

Inspired to create your own “environmental art”, but not sure how to start?  David Edgar creates marine life art forms from plastic bottles, and his instructional fish project video is a how-to guide for beginners. In the demonstration, you’ll learn that creating a sculpture requires scissors and a couple of simple tools, and reshaping plastic can be accomplish with heat from a hair dryer.  Really, the possibilities are endless because unfortunately, so is the trash.

 

Information/Resources:

Point Reyes National Seashore  Point Reyes is a peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean, supporting a large diversity of species throughout the food chain and ecosystem.

One Plastic Beach  The Lang’s offer workshops, presentations, art sales, commercial and residential artwork commissions

Aurora Robson  See more art and media

Washed Ashore – Haseltine Pozzi, an artist and longtime art teacher, made it her mission to collect garbage that washes up along the Oregon coastline and use it to create large art sculptures in an effort to bring awareness to the enormous amount of plastic pollution in oceans and waterways and inspire change.

Project Vortex is an international collective of artists, designers and architects creating art works with plastic debris in support of projects that intercept plastic waste in innovative ways and help water cleanup efforts.

Plastic Ocean by Tan Zi Xi – an inspired art installation simulating the environment of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch created the experience of being immersed in a space covered with trash.

Healthy Seas – a joint venture of non-government organizations and businesses dedicated to cleaning ocean of litter and recycling it into new products such as socks, swimwear, textiles and carpets.

International Coastal Cleanup Day is celebrated annually the third Saturday in September to encourage people to join in efforts to rid beaches of the garbage plaguing beaches, and around the world, conservation groups organize cleanups along coastlines and waterways. 

Plastic Oceans Foundation – a non-profit organization with a mission to engage people through education and media projects, campaigns and global partnerships

Underwater sculpture museums contain breathtaking works of art that seek to encourage environmental awareness and appreciate the breathtaking natural beauty of the underwater world.You’ll be surprised to see what lies
beneath the waves – Art Underwater 

 

 

The Ocean is an essential life force, and we must stop its destructionOur Oceans are suffering from many decades of
abuse and neglect, but each of us has the power to help heal it 

 

 

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Feature photo is courtesy of Free Stock Pro/Pexels CC0

Beautiful & Fascinating

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The memory of my grandmother, an avid ‘up-cycler’, carefully cutting off buttons from the family’s time-worn clothes and saving both the buttons and fabric for future use, is what probably inspired me to hold onto buttons.  Kept in a zip storage bag, my eclectic assortment has grown slowly over the years — It isn’t a large or valuable collection.  In fact, many of the buttons are quite ordinary, but they are uniquely mine, taken from my wardrobe, and they’ve become a collection of memories as well as a personal style timeline.  I’ve also used some of the buttons for arts and crafts projects, and they’ve often come in handy for button replacement.

“Le bouton est non seulement indispensable, mais capable d’enjoliver un vêtement, de le personnaliser et de lui apporter la touche finale.” *— Herbert de Givenchy, Introduction to Boutons by Loïc Allio (2001)  *The button is not only indispensable, but capable of beautifying a piece of clothing, of personalizing it and giving it the final touch. (Translation by Caroline Baumann, Director of Cooper Hewitt Museum)

Buttons have been placed on clothing as ornamentation for thousands of years, and crafted in a variety of ways by artisans and artists or manufactured in low and high-tech factories from every imaginable material, making these small objects significant in fields of decorative arts and design, fashion, visual art, and arts and crafts as well as archeology and materials technology.

Beautiful and Fascinating!  Long admired for the artistry as well as historical value, button collecting began centuries ago and is still a popular hobby today.  The photo gallery below includes just a few examples from extraordinary button collections.

 

 

See More Glass Buttons (1700–1951, American or European) from the Hanna S. Kohn Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
→ Gallery 1
→ Gallery 2
→ Gallery 3

See More Wood Buttons (1900-20, American or European) from the Hanna S. Kohn Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
→ Gallery 4

The Cooper Hewitt button collection is amazing, and available to view online → HERE

Inspired Button Art – “I hold the button to my ear and it whispers to me, “I want to be…..” Augusto Esquivel creates sculptures from buttons, and he shares his work and creative process → Augusto Mucho Gusto website

Button Jacket by Kenneth D. King

Kenneth D. King created this stunning jacket using some of the 75 pounds of antique uniform buttons he inherited. [Pinterest pin “Using Buttons As Embellishment” by Threads Magazine]

 

 

 

 

   

Information/Resources:
Button Society Websites & Contacts – List of button society websites and contacts by country and US states
Button, Button, We’ve Got the Button(s)! by Margery Masinter (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Buttons: In the Collection of the Cooper Hewitt Museum by Carl Christian Dauterman (The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Design, 1982)
Hammond-Turner & Sons – Button Galleries – an online museum displaying buttons manufactured by Hammond Turner & Sons (and related companies), button makers of Birmingham (and Manchester), England.  Created by Lesley Close, a descendant of one of the owners of the company.
The Waterbury Button Museum – More than 3,000 buttons are on permanent display in the Button Gallery of the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut
Déboutonner la mode (Unbutton Fashion), Les Arts Décoratifs exhibit presentation
Boutons, Decorative Arts Museum (Les Arts Décoratifs), Paris, France
Lucie Rie: Ceramics & Buttons Exhibit (22 June 2018 – 12 May 2019, Centre of Ceramic Art at York Art Gallery, UK
European Fashion Project – Buttons, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Keep Homestead Museum – Button Collection, Monson, Massachusetts – The vast collection is exhibited on a rotating basis, but on permanent display is a wonderful collection of mosaic buttons.

 

Button Button: Identification and Price Guide* is a well-organized guide recommended by the Button Society as a book that every button collector and dealer should own.

 

 

 

Buttons: The Collector’s Guide to Selecting, Restoring, and Enjoying New and Vintage Buttons* shows and describes fabric, metal, glass, ceramic, enamel, plastic, and uniform buttons along with the history of buttons.

 

 

 

Buttons by Diana Epstein and Millicent Safro* looks at the authors’ collections of buttons, describing their history and value as art.

 

 

 

 

Creating art with buttons is a fun arts and crafts project.
ⓒ Button Art by Zola Zeester

FREE To WATCH: Collector Confessions – A diverse group of engaging collectors tell their stories about lifelong passions for objects. [Videos on Demand]

 

 

 

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*Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via a link within this page.  This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.
Feature photo “My Button Collection” © Zeester Media LLC, 2015-18

Rubber Band Art

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Noticing the jar of multi-colored rubber bands in the kitchen, a friend asked me, “What are you going to do with them?”

There really was no answer.  In fact, it’s not at all understandable why someone would save rubber bands, except they seem impossible to throw away and occasionally the odd one or two will come in handy for bundling up or repairing something.  And, really….they are everywhere. Even the broccoli and celery at the grocery are bundled together with a colorful rubber band, and all must be saved and collected, perhaps protecting the environment in some small way or (most likely) a kooky obsession.

People using rubber goes way back.  The Aztecs and Mayans used natural rubber products and mixed latex and other materials as early as 1600 B.C.;  however, the process of “vulcanization”, the chemical process of converting natural rubber into a more durable product, was not developed until the 19th century.  Stephen Perry, a British businessman and inventor, received a patent for the rubber band in England more than 170 years ago.

 

Rubber band balls are the simplest form of rubber band art

 

Today, rubber bands (aka elastic bands, laggy bands, gum bands, and elastics) are made of either synthetic rubber or natural rubber (latex) taken from the sap of rubber trees, and there are many types, sizes and versatile household, office and industrial uses as well as uniquely creative uses for the rubber band.

 

The biggest rubber band ball

For example, everybody likes making rubber band balls.  It takes patience and a lot of rubber bands to get things rolling, but not fine crafting skills, and it’s fun to have on your desk to bounce around the office.

A man named Joel Waul from Florida is credited by Guinness World Records as the builder of the largest rubber band ball (aka “Megaton”). Consisting of 700,000 rubber bands, it measured 6′ 7″ high, 25′ 4″ in diameter, and weighed 9,032 lb.

 

 

Creative rubber band chair is art you can use.

 

Megaton is certainly impressive as is Preston Moeller’s cool rubber band chair which earned him first place in 2011 at the Appalachian State University 6th Annual Chair Design competition.  A great example of functional “rubber band” art and creative design using unconventional materials.

 

 

 

Those achievements are inspiring, but also a bit beyond ordinary skills and require a huge supply of big rubber bands.   Thinking smaller scale, the idea for an art project began to develop—–create colorful vases by simply wrapping rubber bands around glassware, one at a time.  It was fun and easy (no glue or special tools required), and the pieces are fairly durable except the rubber bands will deteriorate when exposed to heat or sunlight, requiring repairs and replacements.

The rubber band art vases and jars are pretty as well as handy to have around the house and office, and they’ve been put to good use as flower vases and planters as well as holders for organizing pencils & pens, utensils, odds & ends, and…. more rubber bands!  People are always amazed when told the flower vase they are admiring is decorated with rubber bands, and the possibilities are endless as are the design variations. 

 

 

Finally, there’s an answer to that provocative question —“What are you going to do with them?”  Try it, and have some fun with your own project.

 

Creative collage made with recycled plastics: Find your passion and the joy of creating a work of art here at On2In2™
Controlled Chaos by Zola ©2018 Zeester Media LLC

There’s inspiration here — Art Transforming Trash shows you the many ways to create beautiful art from plastics discarded and found.   

 

 

 

 

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Please share your ideas and creations with On2In2™, and join the conversation via “Engage“.  Would love to hear all about the fun you’re having.  

 

 

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Feature photo of rubber bands by Bill Ebbesen CC BY-SA 3.0
Rubber band ball and art images from the Zeester photo studio CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Information Resource:  Wikipedia (Vulcanization, Rubber Band)

The Dull Men’s Club

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Dull Men Have Hobbies

In “Born to be Mild” from Aeon Video, members of the Dull Men’s Club share thoughts and experiences about finding enjoyment in everyday life and ordinary things and a passion for slow paced adventure, including roundabouting and escalator riding. Proving Dave Barry’s theory that  “hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby”, their stories are engaging and funny.  Plus, you could find inspiration for a unusual hobby to pursue.

 

BORN TO BE MILD –“There’s a lot to be said about being dull.”

In case you’re wondering—–yes, there really is a Dull Men’s Club (for the “dull and the proud”) and a book, “Dull Men of Great Britain“.  The club website is full of hobby ideas in various categories (e.g. “Safe Excitement”), and provides helpful informational resources for unusual leisure activities.

 

A collector's passion can get out of control at times, but it's also a hobby that many people enjoy.FREE To WATCH – A diverse group of engaging collectors
share their stories about lifelong passions for objects
in this collection of short videos:  Collector Confessions 

 

 

 

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Feature photo is a clip taken from the “Born to be Mild” video

Art Collecting

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You might be surprised to learn private art collecting is an avocation with a history that goes back as far as the Middle Ages (5th – 15th centuries) in Europe and East Asia. It later evolved in Italy during the Renaissance period (14th – 17th centuries) of cultural change and achievement in painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music, philosophy, science and exploration, and spread across Europe as kings and nobleman amassed vast art collections to display within their grand palaces. By the 18th century, an art collection had become a status symbol for the wealthy, and collectors’ preferences influenced what new works artists produced for the art market.

 

Information/Resources:
Art Collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm is an example of art collecting in the 17th century and can be viewed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The National Gallery, London
Arts Council England, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (bio & artworks)
How to Collect Art Like a Pro – How to Build an Art Collection, Alan Bamberger, Art Business consulting
A Poor Collector’s Guide to Buying Great Art (10 tips) by Henri Neuenndorf, Art Net News (June 19,2015)

 

Online crowdsourcing art history project allows everyone to browse and transcribe archives of artistsFind out how you can help with art history research right from home, and discover the life of an artist using a very cool, free to
use online tool “AnnoTate”

 

 

 

A collector's passion can get out of control at times, but it's also a hobby that many people enjoy.A Collector’s Passion:  The many varied interests and passions
of collectors are similar in one significant characteristic — sometimes the hobby can get out of control.

 

 

 

It's easy and fun to join On2In2 social networkWe’re the social type as well as art lovers.  Please register via the ENGAGE page to join the conversation, share your inspiration, ideas and creation, and network with On2In2™ playmakers.

 

 

 

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Feature image sourced via Wikimedia: Two Women at a Window by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c. 1655–60 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) Public Domain
Images of 17th century collections in slideshow were sourced via Wikimedia

Lincoln @ Gettysburg

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An illustration by S.J Ferris that depicts Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg finds its way on the cover of a banquet menu in 1898.
Illustration by S.J. Ferris (1895), The Buttolph Collection of Menus, New York Public Library, PD

Lincoln @ Gettysburg is a recounting of how President Abraham Lincoln used new technology (the telegraph) as well as brilliant writing skills to lead the country during the American Civil War, and tells the back story of the Gettysburg Address.  It’s a must see for history buffs and/or lovers of Lincoln as well as an inspiring lesson in leadership.

The documentary was first aired by PBS in November 2013.  Watch it today via Amazon Prime via this link → HERE, or you may be able to watch it online via PBS ( membership is required to access streaming video in some PBS viewing areas).  Alternatively, Lincoln @ Gettysburg may be available to watch via the PBS program service provided on streaming TV & media players (e.g., Roku; AppleTV); search history categories or “American Experience” to locate.

 

The things I want to know are in books;  My best friend is the man who’ll give me a book I haven’t read—Abraham Lincoln

  

Abraham Lincoln had an extraordinary ability to understand people, their motives and desires, and he used that ability, as well as amazing fortitude, with great effectiveness.  Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals:  The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln provides an enlightening portrayal of the man and historical account of his presidency (It’s a Zola favorite).  If you haven’t yet read the book, recommend you get a copy.  Check for it at your local library, or you can purchase via Amazon simply by tapping the image of the book.

 

Lincoln in Gettysburg CrowdThere is no known photo of Lincoln presenting his address at Gettysburg, and finding him in the few photographs in existence has been difficult for historians. However, a recent photographic analysis by the “Virtual Lincoln Project” successfully identified Lincoln and others in the crowd.  Find more about the discoveries and see an interactive display of the photos via Smithsonian Magazine article “Will the Real Abraham Lincoln Please Stand Up?” by Franz Lidz (October 2013).

 

 

 

 

Five generations of a family assembled the most historically significant 19th century American photographic collection

 

In 2015, the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library acquired the Meserve-Kunhardt Collection. It includes an extraordinary compilation of 19th century American photography and the largest collection of unique photographs of Abraham Lincoln.  “Living with Lincoln” is a film documentary that chronicles the devoted collecting, preserving and documenting by five generations of Meserve-Kunhardt family members through photos, home movies and personal stories.  You’ll find the Living with Lincoln video for rent or purchase here → via Amazon Instant Video.

Feature Photo: Abraham Lincoln in a crowd of soldiers, public officials and citizens at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863. The photo, credited to American photographer, David Bachrach, is believed to have been taken just after Lincoln’s arrival, approximately 3 hours prior to his delivery of the now famous “Gettysburg Address”. The photo is currently located at the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. [Sourced from Wikimedia, Public Domain]

Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a purchase of video or book via a link within this page. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

 

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