Cabinet de Curiosites

The photographs from The Pulse related to artists' collections and studios made me think of Cabinets of Curiosity. Initially created in the sixteenth century, these are encyclopedic collections and displays of objects, often scientific, unusual, and exotic. I thought I would offer more photographs of both the outside of a number of my own "cabinets" and the insides housing some of the "curiosities" as initially seen in my own photographs from The Pulse.

This cabinet was found quite a number of years ago at a large outdoor flea market in NYC, which had been in an outdoor parking lot in Chelsea but has since been splintered up due to a high rise building.



This cabinet, all small drawers and brass pulls, was a lucky find at the Pier Antiques Show, a twice annual show with over 500 exhibitors held on Manhattan's west side piers.



An Ebay find, this watchmaker's cabinet was purchased filled with watch parts, watch faces, small glass vials, old labels, and a ton of other cool vintage bits and pieces.



Stored inside a series of Bisley metal cabinets are some of my art supplies including found objects and other art material...





...rubber stamps...




...distressed metal objects...



...rusty objects picked up anywhere and everywhere...




...and some favorite stones



And speaking of Cabinets of Curiosities, there is currently an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art called Wunderkammers: A Century of Curiosities. One amazing piece there was a large cabinet filled with all sorts of found objects. The artist is Mark Dion and the piece is entitled Rescue Archaeology. Fascinating.

The Pulse: Show & Tell 2

Welcome to the third edition of The Pulse: an artist survey. This collaborative project aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. For links to the sites of the participating artists, please click here.


Today's question: Show and Tell. SHOW us one photograph of the object or objects that you collect and TELL us how your collection(s) came to be and/or what they mean to you. Feel free to include any anecdote about how you might have found/bought any of your treasures. The following is the second of four posts to answer this question.



Suzan Buckner Collections--that's a huge ball of wax with me. When my husband met me, I had 40 large collections--(old tin toys, pyrex mixing bowl sets, anthropomorphic salt and pepper shakers, prim dolls, cows, pigs, antique kitchen utensils, feedsack quilts--over 100!, anything catholic, the list was endless). I collected everything. Since then, I have sold them all off, except one. I still collect small ceramic dolls--they use to be called 'penny dolls'. I have a box somewhere of about 100+ of them. The little shelf that I am showing is probably my favorite thing in the world. It makes me happy everytime that I look at it.

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Teesha Moore I collect odd little "things". I have included 2 pictures of some collections of "things" in my house. As much as possible I love hanging all the little "things" and have several different spots around my house to do so. They came about because people would give me small handmade things that would sit in a drawer. And I would make weird little things out of this and that. Together they make quite something to look at.

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Traci Huskamp Since my medium of choice is mixed media, I have many collections of different things. But two of my absolute favorites are boxes, but not just any ol' boxes. They have to be cool, grungy, vintage and I especially love finding groupings of them. I also collect bird’s nests, the smaller the better. I cannot get enough of tiny nests... I have them tucked into little vignettes all over the house.

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Nina Bagley i began collecting heart rocks as a little girl when my father once brought one to me that he had found on the ground. now both of my boys bring them to me from the far corners of the earth - peru, turkey, china, every part of the united states. i look for them on every pebble beach i visit - new zealand, australia, here in my own "backyard". the fact that they are a free souvenir makes them all the more collectible, but i think that what appeals to me is their basic, earthy rock form combined with sentiment, with emotion.

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Harry Bell I've never been one for collecting objects much, but for most of my life I've been a book collector. Not a completist, just someone who amasses books. I started with science fiction, then books of cartoons, followed by art books, without ever finding a need to dispose of previous obsessions. I stopped going to libraries when my own became more inclusive than theirs. The photo shows a very small part of my collection; there's more in other parts of the house and in boxes, unopened since I moved here 15 years ago.

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Vivian Bonder When I read this question, my first response was that I don't really collect anything… However, looking around my work space I noticed some pretty obvious pieces… which made me realize I collect all sorts of metal parts, from bicycle wheels to key plates, from large rusty hooks to keys and locks. I love going to the dump and op shops to find treasures, sometimes I've got absolutely no idea what the functionality is or has been of these items but I just like the shape.

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Leighanna Light I've always loved books & it seems like I've always collected them. Once I learned that I could break the rules & tear them up, my collecting grew into an obsession! My neighbor can't stand watching me do this, she's a retired english teacher & it absolutely kills her! I love the feel of an old worn leather cover, the texture of the old pages, & I often use book parts in my work.



I am also drawn to door parts for some reason, hinges, knobs, the pretty little plates that go over the knobs.



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Cory Celaya I am a collector of “stuff”. Stuff to collage, stuff to assemble, and mainly stuff to recycle into redesigned jewelry. I buy and beg for old jewelry that I can pull apart and redesign the components into “new” jewelry or embellishments. Gifts of old jewelry is better than chocolates anytime. The photo is a mish mash of "stuff" that I collect...old jewelry, buttons, beads and found bits and pieces of other stuff. I try to sort and stack in some kind of order, but this is what it all looks like when I work. A disaster but it works for me.

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not mass produced i collect lots of things - vintage fabric, vintage tins, old printing sets, fifties and sixties fabric, kitsch and quirky stuff (i love these old hair slides and the card they are on), art, zines, books and I'm having trouble stopping myself collecting cabinets at the moment (i justify this by telling myself that i need all these items as props for my craft stall!). a couple of months ago a friend said to me that she'd been to a salvage yard and saw something that I'd love. It was an old wheel chair which still had the false leg (complete with sock and shoe) of the previous owner attached to it!

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Leslie Marsh I started collecting old tins and boxes years ago -- before I ever considered using them in art. I have always been drawn to the vintage advertising and labels. When I started collecting old bits and pieces to use in art projects, I discovered that the boxes were a wonderful place to store the things I collected. For instance, on this shelf there on boxes that contain charms, old jewelry, aged copper tape, bits of metal and watch parts, and even one that contains found insect wings! I have old and new cigar boxes. The new ones are easier to part with, so often I dress them up and use them as mail art.

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Megan Barron I love books, airmail labels, p-seals, tin lithographed objects, bingo cards, handpainted signs, typewriter & needle tins, photographs (especially found or yard-sale ones), paper goods, notebooks, vintage electric fans, field guides, engravings, arrowheads, letterpress—all of which are examples of great design. To say these objects are inspirational is an understatement. Beachcombing is a passion, & one favorite category of finds is ceramic bits (some of which are shown in the photo).

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Ro Bruhn I collect all sorts of things from beads, to art materials to old china for mosaics, yarns and textiles, but my favourite would have to be 'the found objects' for my jewellery. I find so much of it in charity shops, people's sheds, car parks and now have people collecting and saving things for me. My daughters are dreading when I finely leave this world and they're left to sort it out, but their husbands are both my best suppliers, great sons-in-law, I've trained them well. It's become a competition who can find me the best junk. One turned up with an old anchor, not to be out done the other turned up with an old plough. Needless to say they ended up in the garden and not around someone's neck.

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Steph Bouwers Well, I am a collector, I am a magpie. I collect a lot of different things: bones, african art, antique ethnic jewelry, old books, beads, pebbles, rusty things ... I love old things, things that have lived many lives, things that have travelled many miles, things with scars, with wounds ... But I wouldn’t be sorry if I’d lose them ... I’m their keeper, not their owner .. they are with me now but they might not be tomorrow ... and this is what life is all about ..

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Dawn Sokol I don't really collect things...just papers, and family photos...

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Bridgette Guerzon Mills I have all sorts of little collections, but my most treasured collection and one that I will pass on to future generations is the one of huipiles from Guatemala. A huipil is a garment that is worn by the indigenous people of Guatemala. These top garments are handwoven and if one is familiar enough with the different towns and villages, you can identify where the huipil comes from by the symbols and the stitches. My mother's family all live in Guatemala City and I have very fond memories of visiting my family there. These textiles are not only beautiful handwoven works but markers of the rich cultural heritage on my mother's side. I have also started to collect some beautiful woven textiles from the Philippines, which is where my father is from. This huipil in the photo is from an area called Aguas Calientes, or Hot Waters. My eldest aunt, the matriarch of the family, has collected huipils from all over Guatemala since she was a young woman and this one was among my aunt's most prized huipils. I feel honored that she gifted it to me.

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Jennifer Gordon I collect lots of things, comics, comic art, mini busts of my favorite comic characters (wow, I sound like such a geek), vintage Nancy Drew books...but my favorite thing to collect is vintage letters, I just love the old text.This started about 8 years ago after my father passed away and I inherited a small stack of old letters he had. It was then that I just fell into that world of letters, and it was then that I started using the old text in my work as well. I prefer letters that are very old or in foreign languages because it adds more mystery to what is in them and allows me to make up whatever story I want to about them.

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James Michael Starr I realize that I'm fudging a bit by submitting an image of a finished piece, but rather than just show an object, I wanted to also touch on how I SEE the objects that I collect when I first select them. This 2-foot tall sculpture is one I finished a couple weeks ago, so it is timely in revealing my current mental process. The cylindrical wooden item on top is a factory mold, one of those beautifully aged forms once used in the manufacture of industrial parts, and the "legs" are long strips of steel or maybe iron. The former is from a terrific antique store in Austin called Uncommon Objects, and I suppose I respond to irresistible things like that just as would most artists working with old materials. But more to the point are the metal legs. These I found in an old rail yard, the location for a light rail station under construction in a suburb of Dallas. I won the commission to do public art for this project, and in my on-site search for found objects to be used in my design, I found many other items too large to be utilized in the commission and so asked for permission to keep them for my other work. These strips caught my eye for their ambiguous qualities: they are thin and spindly but very strong; they look like the stroke of a charcoal pencil, but are so rigid and sharp they can easily cut the skin: they are irregular and somewhat organic in appearance, and yet they are man-made and in a material that we most often encounter in geometric shapes. I have no idea how they were made, except that their one rough edge seems to suggest they're the by-product of a casting process of some sort, because it looks like molten metal that has cooled. These contradictory characteristics are ones I now seek out in materials I look for on the station site, in scrap metal yards and pretty much everywhere I go, to juxtapose with the aged, manufactured things I've always collected. And perhaps most importantly, I'm learning to go with the image they first spark in my mind: the metal strips seemed to insist on being the wobbly supports of some elevated structure or being, and the factory mold wanted to be something with a soul, and very different from its original role of a tool in the making of other more useful things.

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Angela Rockett I used to collect a lot off things, but over the years most of them lost their meaning and became dust-collectors. The only thing I really collect anymore are Maneki Neko - the cat figurine you'll often see in Asian stores and restaurants with its paw raised up. It's welcoming good fortune, and there are lots of different meanings attached to it depending on which paw is raised and what color the cat is. They're really easy to find, actually, but I try to get unusual ones. I did an Illustration Friday post about it last year - http://ryhopewood.blogspot.com/2007/04/illustration-friday-fortune.html

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Kathy Wasilewski Aside from every shoppers paradise in collecting supplies, I love to collect artwork from other artists. Most of the artwork that I have collected has been traded or received in personal swaps; however, I have gladly paid the price for any artist's work if it is something that I want to add to my collection. I am surrounded by other artist's work on every wall or tabletop in my home. Being an artist, I am inspired by the artwork of others and love to proudly display it in my home. Since my collection grows larger each day, I recently purchased a decorative manakin which I placed in my art studio and use to display some of the smaller pieces. I value each piece of artwork that I own and refer to them often for inspiration.

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Sue Pieper Unfortunately, I seem to collect a lot of "stuff", using the excuse of just in case, or I may never find it again, I'm sure you've heard them all. The one collection that I keep out to see all the time are handmade purses-they all hang on a wall in my studio. Considering the fact that I can't sew, I respect those that do and display those purses proudly, and secretly hope that if I look and touch them enough, I'll absorb some of that skill needed to make them by osmosis:) The other thing that I always buy at rummage sales or thrift shops are the old grungy fold up carpenters rulers. They remind me of my Dad, he was a home builder on the side, and always used those rulers. Finding one of those old rulers just makes my day!

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Linda Woods I collect the number 3. It's my lucky number. I always look for little pieces of art with the number 3 on it or signs with the number 3. I always want to surround myself with luck. Some people always want number one. I am good being three. I am happy being three. I am the third child (with three siblings), born in the 3rd month around 3 in the afternoon. I like three.

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Kelly Kilmer My husband, son and I are book nuts. A "day out" often means at least one visit to a local bookstore (we love used and independent stores). The walls of our apartment are lined with bookshelves. I'll buy books over new clothes any day!! (Luckily my Mom is a bargain shopper and loves buying my son clothes so we're set in that department-LOL!!!) I consider my books my treasures. I often will even print stuff out (if it's a very long article) rather then just looking at it over the internet. There's something to be said about holding paper in your hands. The thought of "reading" on a machine (like the kindle) scares the hell out of me. I've loved curling up with a book ever since I was little. I can't imagine a world without books or paper.

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Maralena Howard I collected Milk Glass for over 20 years – and then suddenly – the thrill was gone. I wound up giving it all away to family. Now, I love hand thrown Pottery. I wish I could afford to buy a lot more than I have. I love the different styles and glazes. Even the failed pieces are cool.



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The Pulse: Show & Tell 1

Welcome to the third edition of The Pulse: an artist survey. This collaborative project aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. For links to the sites of the participating artists, please click here.


Today's question: Show and Tell. SHOW us one photograph of the object or objects that you collect and TELL us how your collection(s) came to be and/or what they mean to you. Feel free to include any anecdote about how you might have found/bought any of your treasures. The following is the first of four posts to answer this question.




Ingrid Dijkers It would have to be my marble collection I have had since shortly after my parents and I immigrated from the Netherlands. My parents had taken me to the beach to play for the day. I was fascinated by 2 teenage girls throwing buckets full of marbles off a little dock. After they left my father and I collected as many as we could, sharing each of our finds. Each being more beautiful than the last, they had such a magical quality. I never really played typical marble games with them, I just enjoyed looking at them. I loved the colors and swirls captured in the glass and the way light went through the marbles. I still have them all and still wonder how those girls came to acquire so many marbles and why they would throw them into the water.

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Kristy Christopherson I am fanatical for old letters. I am fascinated by their history, and the beautiful color and character they each have. I started using them in my collages-originals, and always loved the beautiful handwriting. Even though I have quite a few in my collection now, I now tend to use photocopies of them in my work rather than originals, so that I can keep using them. I find them everywhere-flea markets, antique stores and ebay.

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Jen Bradford Although I gather objects like rocks & feathers, my biggest collection is a library of images of all sorts. (Above, a microscopic pic of volvox, for example.) I am always adding to my pile of flickr favorites, and then assembling them into groups. (mosaics that all have fine lines, or birds, or a particular color...) and have files of images torn from magazines and saved for many years.
http://flickr.com/photos/jenbradford/sets/72157603855498294/
I also collect color swatches every time I go to a paint store.
http://flickr.com/photos/jenbradford/2385697481/in/set-72157603684461480/

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Lisa Hoffman I have a shameless collection of Designer Vinyl Toys. I think that my attention was riveted to these little works of art when I was treated to a dinner at the home of fellow True Colorist: Keely Barham. She had converted her entire California living room into one huge studio, filled with these cool little creations living amongst her other tools and supplies. You can grab one of these “toys” at places like Urban Outfitters for $5. A great, affordable addiction. The endless designs from cutting edge graphics and stencil artists just makes me happy.

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Gwen Buchanan this is from a posting I did, incidentally called, "Treasures"

High tide wrack lines...
Treasures from the Sea...
Bleached by the sun...
Gathered from the shore...
Sitting in a shell...
Beauty on my windowsill...

Atlantic Rock Crabs... Cancer irroratus... marine arthropod... crustacean class... grow up to 13 cm. or 5¼" across the carapace, the crabs thick defensive shield... A body enclosed in an armor casing of tough protein called Chitin... This exoskeleton must be periodically shed to permit growth... Found in intertidal and subtidal waters... on rocky and sandy seashores... among kelp beds... Carapace varies in color from red to purple.... underside is pale white/gray to yellowish... I love their still delicacy now, in this state, as opposed to their strength when they were alive, housing their life-giving organs, as the ocean crashed around them.

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Jonna Barnett Rocks. My great-grandfather was a rock hound. He had a shop out behind his house where he all of his equipment for polishing rocks. And he had tons and tons of rocks. I can remember going out into his shop and being mesmerized by all the shiny colorful rocks that were everywhere. I often wonder what happened to all of his collection as we only got a handful when he passed away. A few years ago a friend of mine bought a place and the gentleman who had lived there before had been a rock hound. There were rocks all over the place, nice big hunks but none had been polished. She was going to take them off to the dump.....I saved them. You can find them peeking out of my flower beds, in my potted plants in the house and scattered around the house. And whenever I pick one up I always think of my great-grandfather and his shop.

I have rocks from all over the world. When friends and relatives go on vacation and ask if there is anything I want them to bring me I always ask them to find a cool looking or unusual rock to bring back for me. Some of them give me strange looks but they usually bring me back some pretty cool looking rock. My favorite is the one my daughter brought back from her first trip to Japan. She found it on the beach and it sits on my bathroom counter where I can see it every day.

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Robyn Gordon I love Ethiopian artifacts and I think this love for anything Ethiopian started with a very old shield which is in my collection. It was brought back to South Africa by a soldier who was stationed in Ethiopia during the Second World War. It was given to my mother who eventually gave it to me. As a child I was fascinated by its conical shape and all the engraved metal embellishments. (I actually thought it was a hat). The fact that it is made out of tough hippopotamus hide made it all the more exciting. I love the coptic crosses in my collection. The ones with hollow bases were used mounted on staffs during processionals and the others are hand held crosses. The baskets made in Ethiopia are unique to that country. Woven, covered in leather and embellished with metal beadwork with leather straps for carrying.

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Kim Logan Show and Tell......well, I have a weird collection of dividers..!!!...All I can say is its a graphic design thing..lol..!!! (photo attached) I love them, and I know some assemblage artists use them in their pieces, but for me they are graphically perfect..!!!

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grrl+dog uhm.. I collect vintage sex and medical books and things. I have my grandmothers sex book that was given to her in early last century by my great grandmother and the things in there crack me up. I have about 5 books on "marriage" throughout the last one hundred years and they are fascinating. It shows where our heads were and how we interpret stuff. Also explains why so many of us are so messed up on the subject. Maybe it was my sterile slide show of chickens and eggs at the local church at age 11 that did it. I honestly had no clue till the age of 15 or so. I also collect vintage post mortem photos...maybe because my grandparents had so many blue babies and they died. That was one thing the sex book didnt tell them.

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Deana Hager I love to go out looking for antiques and vintage items. I try to go out "hunting" at least once a week.








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Karen Cole As a painting major in college, I was always eager to go to the art supply store and check out the brushes. The sizes, shapes and material from which they were made, has always been exciting for me. Since then, I have been a brush "gatherer". All kinds. Old house painting brushes for assemblage, vintage hair brushes, artist brushes, cleaning brushes. New York Central Art Supply, has an amazing assortment of artist brushes, some hundreds of dollars and imported, that I covet. My birthday is in February, BTW.

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Nancy Baumiller I collect a variety of things! I do have a fun collection of Pez dispensers but at the moment the one that is standing out and enjoying is my Vintage valentine collection! I love the colors and sweetness of them!

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Elizabeth Bunsen Well I am a collector of many things: ledgers, seed pods, pine cones, cashmere sweaters, rusty bottle caps... but it is my rock collection that speaks to me most deeply - stripeys, river rocks, herkimer diamonds, tumbled beach stones, hollow holy stones, moldevite, blue opal... the list is endless - but my favorites are those I find regularly at the beach and on various adventures - the stripeys, the heart shaped stones and the river rocks. Here is a little story: one of my earliest memories is being a little girl of about 8 in Lodgepole NE - I would walk out to the water tower a long walk far behind our house and sit down in the sun, find a smooth sun warmed stone and rub it on my upper lip relishing in the sensual warmth and smoothness of that rock - tuck it into my pocket and bring it home. Click here to see more of this collection.

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David Castle I love to paint on the northern Oregon Coast in a special, sleepy place where polished agates wash up on the beach like little jewels. I initially started my agate collection because I simply couldn’t walk the beach without picking them up. I then discovered that they make great painting tools – I place them in wet puddles of watercolor paint to create wonderful shapes for my “fossils” paintings.

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Stephanie Mcatee I really don’t collect anything in particular. Art elements maybe-? Unposed black and white pics of my family that I have taken and hung throughout my house… even if it’s stuck in the wall with a straight pin! Just random.

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Gail Pierce I have the usual collections of art books, magazines, and supplies including a collection of alphabet rubber stamps that I had to have and rarely use, but it’s the mugs, vases and baskets full of brushes that come with a story. When my father died in 1999 I inherited tubes of oil and acrylic paints along with the brushes that he had used for decades. I can’t seem to use them; after all, they’re irreplaceable. Maybe my penchant for collecting brushes is in response to the frugality my father had when it came to his supplies, he only acquired a new one when gifted.

Around the time of my father’s death, not unexpected, was when I started experimenting with mediums to replace the darkroom work I could no longer do. (Chemical sensitivity was the result of being unaware of the dangers of photography chemicals that should have been handled with gloves and a mask). Decorative painting was the first thing I tried, but not being one to follow patterns, recipes or directions that lasted about a minute. A different brush was required for different painting strokes. An interest in watercolors followed and of course more brushes; watercolors aren’t my thing either. Then acrylics; I couldn’t use the precious watercolor brushes, so more brushes were purchased. Speaking of precious, while packing to move from the Monterey Peninsula to the desert near Palm Springs two years ago I discovered a box of brushes I had purchased years before because they looked interesting; big thick brushes with beautiful handles. Collage requires brushes for gel mediums and those to my way of thinking should be of the disposable kind which led to a collection of cheap brushes from hardware stores. And then there are foam brushes, spatulas, spreaders, and brayers that are necessary for texture.

What brushes are my favorites? The cheap under a dollar natural bristle variety are the ones I always reach for when I start a painting along with a brayer and one of dad’s brushes for luck!

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Jen Worden I have this thing about bones. I'm not sure where it came from but seeing the skeletal structure of birds and animals, so fragile and yet so very, very strong, touches something deep within me. I feel compelled to surround myself with them. Luckily I have an amazing source that gifts me with more than I will ever be able to thank him for. I also love the castoffs of others. Most often rusty bits that have fallen alongside the road or end up in the ditch. Occasionally, shiny bits that I discover on a beach walk.

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Jessica Gonacha I've sort-of started collecting Ganesh/Buddha figures by default-- I've gotten several as birthday presents, the funniest being this large gold one that my brother bought in Amsterdam and lugged back for me. Now he buys me one every year! I even had one show up sitting on my mailbox one day, just sitting there waiting for me to take it inside. It's still a mystery where it came form.



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Judy Wise I collect "drizzly stones". These are smooth, cloudy stones the color of the skies on Manzanita Beach where I used to have a home. It always rained there and I loved the moody sea. I would walk the sands and collect these stones in my pockets and then sort them out each night only keeping the magical ones. So that the ones I have now were collected nearly 30 years ago and they are very powerful.

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Binky Bergsman Right now I am attracted to empty boxes. They will be used in an assemblage of some kind, some day. I love the wooden one with the hole in the front. That piece slides up to view the insides. It will be an homage to Joseph Cornell.

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Mistie Jordan As an assemblage/collage artist, I think this is a dangerous question because I could link a story to every piece I have. (laugh) I collect little metal things that are rusted, doll heads, things off the street, small dolls, buckles, snaps, paper, lace and fabric. My biggest collection however is buttons. My great-grandmother was the creator of things in my family and she passed that “need” to me. She taught me how to make so many things. And she had zillions of buttons. Just all over the place in jars and cups and tins. I have never been able to shake the necessity of having them everywhere myself. I have lots of them and people keep bringing them to me all the time. I’ve had little “collections” of things as long as I can remember. Family members would bring me things that were aunt so and so’s etc. I was (am) the family pack-rat. Friends bring me items even now. My girlfriend was in an auto accident recently and she collected the little pieces from her car when they swept them up and brought them to me. She said she figured I’d do something interesting with them.

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Sally Turlington Are you kidding me? What do I collect? What do I NOT collect? Let me just say that I collect mixed media supplies . . . that is to say EVERYTHING! Most precious to me are found and acquired objects - especially metal ones, paper scraps, cigar boxes, beads and charms, graphic arts and clip art books, vintage jewelry, current craft and art magazines, Communication Arts Magazines. This photo doesn't even show you the countless other things I collect -- like art books, dolls and statues, paints, brushes, decorative and handmade paper, paper company samples, storage containers, and on and on. I've been collecting for my varied art making interests for about 15 years. A few years back, I thought I might like to add on to my studio but came to the conclusion that I would than just fill up the new space, too. So I've made a conscious effort since then to STOP collecting. Yeah, right. Ask my friends! LOL. As a compulsive personality, sometimes I think I'm a collector rather than an artist. At any rate you could classify me as a pack rat extraordinaire!

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Lisa Call I love rocks and collect them when hiking, on the beach, from my yard, etc. There is something about their solidness and shape that really appeals to me. I have rocks in bowls and on shelves all over my house. I believe the ones in this image are from New Zealand. Yes I flew home with a suitcase full of rocks after a 5 month sabbatical to that country in 2001, they got great rocks, or at least they did until I collected them.

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