About this project

I want your stuff. But I want your stuff so I can make it into something else, a piece of art.

If you are someone who collects but doesn't know why, who purchases something because you just have to have it, but have no space for it, I can relate to you. And if you are open to changing the object into something else, transcending it, then this is the project and moment you have been waiting for.

Are you holding onto something for no reason, or for a really good reason? Or, for some other reason, like:

"It’s a perfectly good tea cup, except for that chip that cut my lip ten years ago";

or "but my grandmother loved these glasses and someday I may need glasses, too";

or even "you never know when I'll need a crochet doily collection, the arms of my sofa are wearing thin".

It’s never gonna happen, so just send it to me.

Here's how it will work. You send me something, anything, as long as it's not illegal or disgusting, that will fit into a container no larger than 12”x12”, large mailing envelope or smaller. Then I’ll make that into something just for you.

What you send must have a singular theme to it, like one thimble or a whole box of them, a single tie or a whole box of ties, not a tie and a shirt and pants... It has to have a theme, get it?

The idea behind this exchange is a natural progression of something I’ve been working on for the past 6 years. When I started to make art it was drawn from, and inspired by, a kind of nostalgia for items tossed aside – finds at the Salvation Army, items I saw in the trash but deemed too precious to let them be thrown away. And I would try make art that felt like that. Then I lugged the inspiration with me from studio to studio and home to home. I couldn't let go.

Seven years ago my husband and I bought a home in Lowell, MA. As we took down the wallpaper that was about 20 to 30 years old, bland and yellowed from years of cigarette smoke, I pulled back the layers to find hidden gems underneath: real paper wallpaper that had a Victorian feel to it with muted shades of pink, green and blue with waterfalls of flowers tipping out of urns. It was beautiful, and I couldn't throw it away. It felt priceless to me. I took those wallpaper strips and re-pasted them to wallboard panels I had been using in my ceramic sculpture. I made a series entitled "The Wallflower Brides" – doily like, delicate and bird/breast shaped clay pieces – and then mounted them on the wallpaper. Since that time I have made it a point to use the items I have collected to make the Art I do. It’s a process that works, and now I would like to share that process with you – and involve you.

So this work is a collaboration. You can't throw it out, and I can't resist people's trash. The possibility of both being inspired and igniting the creative process with found materials can be endless in both inspiration and product. It feels right to me. Your pledge of $25 covers materials and shipping fees for me and you get something pretty cool in return – Art.

Recycle something; make Art.

You can see updates on my blog, http://liznoonan.wordpress.com/ and here on Kickstarter.