Create/Collect

When I got into MECA I started to find out a little more about a habit I’ve had since I was a little kid. I am a collector. I love finding all these little things that interest me and keeping them, using them in my art, etc. The more I realized that this was not a selfless act that just fueled my own whims and the more I became excited by the fact that I could use this obsession to fuel my art. The act of curating, sharing my brilliant finds and showcasing them for the world could become a great way to express myself.

There have been some things I have been getting into that help feed this habit of collecting very nicely- I have a steadily growing image bank that I keep on my computer, I have a stack of older books that I enjoy the photos or illustrations they contain (I frequently use them for silkscreen prints), and I have a growing collection of artsy 1” pins and buttons. The pin collection has been growing a lot faster as of late because of this brilliant project in Portland…

The “Portland Pins Project” is a fantastic collaborative project that has artists from around the city, whether a chronic doodler or someone who really wants to make a masterpiece, submitting one-of-a-kind pins to be made into little 1” buttons and sold in these colorful vending machines (like the one above) in a few shops in the city. There are 2 roving machines that have been traveling around different businesses, and there have been tons of people giving in original artwork to be created into this fantastic, colorful menagerie being dispensed to the public (I myself have handed in a few sheets, it’s a lot of fun to create things for this as well as collect).

If you look around at local stores, you will see the papers hanging up and drop boxes to put the pins in, and if you follow the blog on the link above, you can see where the machine is going to be next when First Friday hits again (it shifts every time First Friday rolls around, coinciding with the art openings in galleries in the city for their own new shows). I myself have trekked around the city, going into interesting shops to find said machines, and I’ve loved getting some beautiful original works of art that I can wear. If you ever get a chance to fill out one of these sheets and submit your own work, or take the time to find a machine, you shouldn’t pass up the chance. Fuel the collector in you!