The definition of "gleaning" is to gather laboriously, bit by bit. Historically, gleaning dealt with the collection of leftovers after a harvest. Whatever fruits and vegetables pickers or machines missed, people were welcome to glean for themselves.
Our challenge is to gather a dozen found objects. We must then closely observe their characteristics and properties, log the information, and assemble the objects within a 24" cubic space. We need to consider partnerships, groupings, etc before presenting our process in class.
I started my glean-stroll this morning on my bike. I went up to the Brown campus looking for anything interesting. I found some snack trash, a few pieces of discarded chairs (which reminded me of the time I ran to jump up and sit on my mother's lap and the chair she was sitting on split into a million pieces underneath us as we crashed to the floor), a pinecone. Then I stumbled on a construction dumpster outside an old building. My former life in the construction industry told me I needed to jump into that dumpster. And at 7am this morning, I did.
When I emerged from the dumpster with a few pieces of ornate moulding (so sad to see them head for the dump), a dog had joined me in the parking lot. He appeared to be a goldendoodle, albeit a dirty one that's been wandering the streets for a few days. But, he had a collar on. He wouldn't come to me, but I chased him down the still sleepy neighborhood streets and through people's back yards for about 30 minutes. Then I lost him. I felt terrible and my gleaning was definitely off-track.
I flagged down a police car, let him know about the pup and got back to gleaning. As I peddled around thinking about how the interaction with the dog had redirected my path-o-gleaning, I noticed a sign for an estate sale and biked to the location. There wasn't much left to purchase in the 100 year old home, some housewares and clothing. But that's not all a life leaves behind is it?
With that, I'd like to introduce the Pinderhughes.
That picture above is of some of the objects I gleaned from their home on Olney street in Providence. Though the objects had no monetary value, they've quickly become priceless in the development of this project.
Stay tuned. It's due this Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment