Pre-St.Patrick's Day Party

Such wonderful conversations this evening.  One woman I talked to about my collection shared that although she couldn't part with it, a Ouiga board immediately came to mind.  She had bought it at an estate sale, and it was the estate sale that related to my project of collecting well-loved, but otherwise valueless items. At this estate sale there was such a collection of items – a real portrait of the person who had collected them, but who had since passed.  She shared that it practically brought tears to her eyes seeing all of the items, some that only had value to the now deceased, and imagining all of the stories behind them.  

Another woman shared that she still had the first doggie toy for her dog.  The toy had been quite destroyed, but she couldn't come to throw it out as it was a reminder of such great times with her then puppy; and although she didn't state as much, it seemed that the good times with her dog were also tied to other significant life-events happening at that time.

A middle-aged gentleman shared that he still had “Mousy”, his now grown daughter’s stuffed animal that was so loved that, like the Velveteen Rabbit, all of its hair had been worn off and one arm had been torn off.  His daughter then found a piece of fabric that was cut to roughly the same shape of the arm, and she stitched it back on so that Mousy would have both arms again. 

"Meal of the Year" Fundraiser at Central Oregon Community College

This was the second time I engaged fellow diners with conversation about the collection of well-loved items I was creating.  One couple at the table knew that I was working on my MFA and asked how it was going.  I used this as an opportunity to share one of my current projects; thus they were made aware that this was actually an art project, but what element is the art was left unclear.

As with the first time I introduced the fact that I was creating this collection of items everyone began sharing, either amongst themselves, or with the table, about items that came to mind.  One couple had initially conversed just between the two of them, but then told me what they were talking about.  They both agreed that the the small scrap of baby blanket stored in a box in the closet of one of their grown kid's rooms was what had come to mind; but that it was too precious to give up.  Then they decided that maybe they would think about cutting off a piece of it for my collection.  The blanket had become a small piece already from all of the use and fingering by their son.  They shared that he would fall asleep rubbing it between his fingers.

A colleague of my wife's shared that he used to have an early 1970s polyester leisure suit that would be perfect for the collection, but that his wife had already given it away without his permission.  It was clear that this suit was very special to him by the way he became quite animated when talking about it.  He assured us that it would be perfect – that it truly would have no sale value, but that it had great value to him (presumably from the memories of the events he attended wearing the suit).