03 MARCH, 2018
"Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I will try again tomorrow.‘ " ~ Mary Anne Radmacher
Part of my collection of old books. Some of these are more than 100 years old, but most are not. I always look up the ones I'm not sure about, to see if they're worth anything. After all, I don't want to cut up a book that belongs on Antiques Roadshow!
Persistence
"A creative act is not linear. It does not start at “A” and end at “Z” with a product that is wholly explainable. One can neither predict beforehand nor fully comprehend afterwards the steps involved. It is both intellectual and emotional and totally human." ~ Lissa Hunter
It’s like the biggest secret in the universe that’s also right in front of your face. I won’t try to convince you of the merits of perseverance. Most of us realize, at some point in our lives, that it really is key to success, unglamourous and unappealing as it may be. It’s so tempting to blame our failures on other factors, including plain old “bad luck”. But at the end of the day, it usually comes down to giving up – a lack of what some call ‘grit’.
So, full disclosure, the piece you see here is not the original Persistence. It's actually the re-working of a re-worked piece. I disliked the original so much I nearly threw it out. It wasn't bad so much as just really boring, in my opinion. And in my opinion, boring is really bad.
But, rather than give up, I thought maybe I could fix it. I tried, failed, then tried again. Finally, still dissatisfied, I tossed it in the pile of work I considered to be failures, and forgot about it. Occasionally, I pull something out of the pile to see if I can find some kind of hope for it. Why throw something out if you can recycle it, right? So the piece was reborn once again, and turned out to be absolutely nothing like I had planned.
Persistence, mixed media collage on vintage book cover,
All of the materials in this collage are antique or vintage ephemera. They, too, have persisted, when other similar items were consigned to the trash bin many years ago. But you might be wondering what, exactly, qualifies as ephemera?
What is Ephemera?
I'm often asked what I mean when I say 'ephemera', so I thought this might be a good opportunity to explain. It's not a word you hear every day. Since they're frequently listed in the 'ingredients' of my art, I should probably say a bit about the terms 'antique' and 'vintage' as well.
Trying to track down the definitive meanings of the terms 'antique' and 'vintage' turned out to be a lot harder than I had anticipated. The difference between them is not as cut and dried as you might think. For instance, if it's furniture or glass, 100 years is generally accepted as the cutoff for something to be considered antique. For jewelry, 30 to 60 years old is considered vintage by some, but others say vintage means less than 25 years old. (To me, that's new!) Confused? Me, too.
According to Antique HQ:
"There is a debate over what makes an antique an antique. The definition of an antique is 'An object of considerable age valued for its aesthetic or historical significance'. An antique does not become an antique until it meets the age requirement of 100 years or older. ... The term vintage originally applied to bottles of wine. For example this is a 1915 vintage red wine. This term was poached and used as a general term. Vintage is now applied to anything that is less than 25 years old or have cycled back into fashion. However this is generally applied to the era of 1960 – 1979."
So there you have it. I'm not going to belabor the point any further, because in regards to my work, it really doesn't matter. How something looks is far more important to me than how old it is.
Vintage Ephemera
Ephemera, on the other hand, is a pretty simple concept. As the very helpful man in the video says, it's stuff that was meant to be thrown away after use, usually made of paper or cardboard. I like his quote from the Encyclopedia of Ephemera defining it as, "Minor transient documents of everyday life."
Of course, not everybody throws things away. Sometimes, they get put aside, stuck into a drawer somewhere, or end up in a box in the attic. Years later, someone discovers them and sells them at a garage sale or flea market. Some of those items may be collectible, and some may become part of a work of art.
Below, some examples of ephemera from my studio storage drawers. My kids call me a hoarder, but what choice does a mixed media artist have, right?
Above, some parts from a very old parcheesi game, an orange juice ad illustration, and other cardboard and paper ephemera.
The photo below is of a page from someone's old botany lab specimen book, dated 1919. Apparently, it will be considered antique in one more year.
Above, some bits and pieces from one of my vintage ephemera drawers, including cards, letters, and ads from the early 1900's, lying on a 1944 ledger.
Stuff from an old school binder I found at a flea market, and some stamps.
Old maps and cabinet card photos on an engineering drawing from 1920.
I hope you learned something about antique and vintage ephemera, or at least enjoyed seeing some of the materials I use in my collages. The new piece is available, just DM for info.
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