Salted and Breaded,
but Never Baked
Several
years ago I began to make the transition away from paper based collage work to
more dimensional work that has an organic feel to it. One of the first upcycled
materials I began to experiment with were toilet paper and paper towel
tubes. I quickly learned what materials
could be applied to the outside of the tube in order to give it a crusty
textural look. I also learned what materials could be stuffed in the tubes in
order to make them look as if various types of growth were sprouting out of
their tops.
People
often praise the use of color in my work. Though I am not certain, I feel the
vibrancy and natural feel of the color is derived from the various dyes I use
as opposed to paint. Acrylic paint, when applied to many surfaces other than
canvas, tends to have a plastic and somewhat fake feel to it. Paint is bright,
smooth, and its luminosity at times can be harsh. Dyes on the other hand,
readily soak into natural materials whereas paints tend to coat. In essence,
dyes leave the textural qualities of work like mine in tact whereas paint would
destroy it by smothering such materials in a thin coating of colored latex. The
crusty, dye infused coatings on my work allow the light to bounce off at
irregular angles creating a diffuse warmer hue. The challenge for me then,
while experimenting with dyes as an external color choice, was to find a
material that was cheap enough to cover large sections of artwork and could
soak up either dyed water or sprinkled dye sprayed with water. My first choice
was salt.
At
first I began to experiment with regular table salt. It was an excellent medium
for soaking up color, but its granules were so small that the textural element
I was looking for was lacking. I even did some experiments, with varying
degrees of success, in growing dye infused salt crystals. Unfortunately, the
crystals remained small and the process was too involved for large scale
application.
Quickly
I began to think of larger types of salts which would give my work a more
pronounced textural element. I experimented with road salt, or de-icing salt.
This type of salt was too large and often too dirty for use. I tried breaking
it up into smaller granules but found the process to not be worth the time and
effort. The only good thing about de-icing salt was the fact that it is so
cheap, still though, it proved to be unworthy of the task at hand. The next
salt I began to use was Epsom salt. Its granules were medium size; it soaked up
water well, was relatively cheap, and easy to apply. For the next few years I
used Epsom salt as my main material for producing texture on my work. Some days
I would chuckle inside as I bought four large containers of Epsom salt,
thousands of cotton swabs, and lighter fluid from a grocery store, all of which
were supplies for my artwork. I can only imagine what the cashier thought –
maybe she thought I had some kind of alien skin rash?
I later
learned that the major downside to Epsom salt was at times it tended to get
brittle and turn into a powdery white substance. Sometimes it did this despite
the coats of acrylic spray and matte medium I used to ensure the Epsom salt
remained stable. Most of it did not get
brittle but even in small amounts I felt the look detracted from the overall
beauty of my work. The salt was originally used on my first Polyp pieces, a
little bit on my first Accretion piece, on my first Termitaria install, and a
little on my first Peridium piece.
Polyp #1
Accretion #1 (Yellow middle part -- salted, all other pieces are breaded.)
Peridium #1 (A mix of salt and oatmeal mostly on the sides of individual pieces.)
Termitaria Collinasia (All pieces have been breaded.)
While
using Epsom salt I began to experiment with oatmeal. It was a little more
expensive than salt and a bit chunkier, two qualities I was not thrilled about.
It did however have a strength that salt did not possess, that is it did not
break down and turn white in some instances like salt did. Still though, it
took me a year or more after some of my initial experiments to come around to
oatmeal. The real change of heart came when I got a small mechanical grinder
that allowed me to crush the oatmeal into rough flour. Now I had a material
that was relatively cheap, easily applied, could readily soak up water, and did
not degrade as easily as salt did.
So yes,
at first my art was salted and now it is breaded. And no, you shouldn’t try and
eat it for the outside is always coated with acrylic sprays, and either matte
medium or polycrylic. Recently, in order to increase the subtleness of color
variations on the surface of my material, I have also been applying various
amounts and types of colored sand. Soon I hope to begin experiments on how to
dye my own sand. I am doing this because the variety of colored sand you can
buy at craft stores leaves out many colors I wish I had access to. I will also
be looking into how various other grains work when crushed up, and I have even
given some thought about experimenting with sawdust. This will have to wait
though for I do not currently have access to a steady flow of sawdust by which
to do experiments with.
As you
can see, I am always trying out new textural elements, materials, and colors
which I feel are more natural and pleasing to the eye than paint could ever be.
