Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts
By Alyce Wilson
Down the street, someone has stapled two small American flags to the tree in their yard. And there are American flags neatly taped inside the windows of each classroom in a nearby school.
A house with an unpainted gray wood porch has two yellow ribbons: one tied to the railing and one to their mailbox. There are several flags in the window and a Phillies flag.
Hearing a creaking in the branches, I look up to discover a white plastic sheet, caught in one of them, floating ominously.
I don't hang flags or decorations on my porch. Little I could put out there would encapsulate my feelings about anything. Instead, I create collages with magazine photos on the walls of my apartment. While some assume I simply never outgrew my college days, I see it as artistic expression.
I save my old magazines until I get a chance to go through them to clip out photos or headlines I'd like to use. Then I keep them in folders or envelopes to look through later, when I'm in a creative mood.
For several months, I covered some of my main collages with tapestries. My landlord was selling the house, and I worried that seeing them would make potential buyers think I would be a flaky tenant. I removed the tapestries recently when a guest visited, to show her the long-hidden collages.
"It's an unveiling!" she exclaimed. She seemed impressed and said she didn't think anyone would have thought I was flaky for having them up there. Yet another reason we're friends.
Next to my computer terminal is the "work versus play" wall.
Starting in the upper left hand corner, it features photographs illustrating the impersonal nature of today's workplace, the ultimate corporate mentality. For example, a photo of a man in a business suit under a microscope.
As you get further right on the wall, you come across the statement, "Superman doesn't feel like commuting today," surrounded by photos of Wonder Woman and Xena. Further to the right, there is "Creative Anarchy" and "Magick!" and photos of some of the people whose creative energy I admire (Emily Dickinson, Aimee Mann, Steve Martin, David Bowie, Bob Dylan). And it all progresses to a massive, colorful poster of the Beatles (naturally.)
On a small section of wall between my two windows, nearby, is the "Hall of Fame." This has pictures of many of the actors, musicians and writers I admire, although many more could go up there. I've cut out more photos that are likely to find their way onto the wall.
My refrigerator has a dadaist poem which I created by cutting out magazine headlines I found interesting and then arranging them. It reads:
I knew
100% Pure.
Beauty.
When You Reach
freedom of
movement
Get on the
Bus!
What's
your secret!
mad cow disease
Even my computer graphics, for Musings and for Wild Violet are a sort of electronic collage, combining elements and manipulating them for the effect I want to achieve. I find this a sort of "found art" to be invigorating: creating art out of what you find around you.
I suppose it's what all artists do, just in a more literal way.
Art is where you find it.
Copyright
2003 by Alyce Wilson
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