“Kodachrome”
Artist: Carol A. More
SOLD
2016
Found myself in a ‘fiddling’ mood today as I ruffled through a box of my old ‘found’ trash that I’d been collecting. But…and this is the most exciting news…it’s what I found YESTERDAY in a sleepy little industry-scarred mountain town about an hour south.
A year’s worth of 1945 LIFE magazines bound library-style from New York City. I look for decrepit books and magazines that are ready to kindle fire and feel absolutely no guilt extending their life through my collage but this find….ahhhh….I’m in a quandry. As I flipped through the issues while Michael drove, I realized this was media history and found myself wondering if news was as manipulated then as it is now. In one of the issues – by the way 1945 was before I landed on this earth which made things particularly surreal – were photos of Nazi suicides which included children, once their hope had expired. The pics were graphic, seemingly uncensored, grisly and horrific. I’m sensing I need to read through them first before scissoring them. Inner convo: “Don’t worry, Carol, there are millions of bound Life magazines because there are millions of libraries across the USA. Let someone else save ’em. Indulge yourself and cut ’em up!” Counterpoint, “Don’t do it…just DON’T…this is too much precious lost history.” I do not have school age children but friends who have grandchildren and children tell me that they are not studying this war in school. I’ll keep you posted as my conscience continues the debate and I spend a few hours reading. BTW, the book was only $20. SCORE!
Back to the collage, much like my own rescued cats, has already found a ‘forever’ home. Kitty litter boxes are sturdy, solid cardboard and I often use them to contain papers, tissue, supplies, etc. because they fit my shelves. When I have time, I spray paint them so they look less like kitty litter boxes. Before I could say ‘whoa’, Michael had cut the box up suggesting the now flat box sides were strong enough for collage substrate. And so….now you see the kitty litter box panel and soon you won’t! Also a sneak peek at the bound LIFE mags…the ads are enthralling!
I used matte medium to cover the kitty litter box panel with old book pages to give it a bit of “ground” and then built up the collage using scraps from other works. Nothing ‘new’ was harmed in this piece. I found the Kodachrome slide (in color by the way but it’s a moot point because I preferred the blackness of it in this piece) in another box of ‘collage stuff’ I bought from a flea market. Added India ink blobs, charcoal, oil pastels, casein paint (ahh THAT smell!), acrylic paint, misc. ephemera, sparkly tissue paper (difficult to glue down!) cardboard scraps, book binding material, patterned paper, player piano roll scraps….that’s it.
Happy New (and I mean NEW, Lord have mercy we don’t repeat another 2016!) Year! To quote my girl, Emily D, “hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul….” May it be ever present in your soul.
Carol A. More, Artist 
I love your collage Carol – lovely vintage tones, textures and lots of interesting things to focus the eye on! Now as for those 1945 magazines – WOW – what an amazing find! I totally understand your moral dilemma – to cut them up or not! Personally, anything that contains historically important content like WW2 images I could not bring my self to cut up – it’s almost sacrilege… but… you say the magazines are bound in book form – can they be “unbound”, separated? That way you could maybe use some and keep some…. or you could keep the originals and maybe just scan or photograph pages you would like to use for collage and print them out… just a few options… I’d love to know what you decide! Sorry about the long comment!
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Thanks for weighing in, Evelyn. I appreciate your thoughts and thank you also for your kind compliments. Always so nice to see one’s work through another artist’s eyes.
So….I usually scissor up the vintage ads and the crazy verbiage which is no longer permitted by advertisers. For instance: tobacco ads advising that your doctor recommends X brand as the healthier cigarette; abundant racism, sexism and bold halitosis ads aplenty. Yes, the mags are bound and sewn into a sturdy ‘last forever’ way. Each issue is in excellent condition too (darn it). And I do scan and print when I feel I have a unique bit of ephemera that’s irreplaceable – like old letters – so perhaps I just adopt your recommendation to do that. This idea came to me when I was picking up trash in my neighborhood stocking up for my next collage: Maybe just remove the articles (carefully) that feel significant, for safekeeping. I am already on my way to guest starring on the “Hoarders” show as it is….!
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