Mom. Trash. Beach. Art.

Mom-Trash-Beach-Art

MomTrashBeachArt

This time of year doesn't readily lend itself to thinking in full sentences, let alone paragraphs, so I have been using my genius brain for a variation of Person-Woman-Man-Camera to remind us both about something very important:

Mom Trash Beach Art

The actual name of the show is Waste Not Want Not, though I thought it could have just been Waste Not (less ink). As for my mnemonic:

Mom. My mom, great lady. For as long as I've been alive, she has been my mom. For even longer than that, she has been making art, exploring and combining different media with such attention to detail she forgot about the coffee slowly returned to room temperature in the microwave.

Trash. It's everywhere. Boggles the mind. And don't even get me started on all my well-rinsed yogurt containers that will probably never be recycled into new yogurt containers or a toothbrush. Most places, we don't even notice the flotsam and jetsam generated by our conspicuous consumption.

Beach. One place you can't not notice trash is the beach. Even beaches where there isn't another person in sight, there is ample evidence of our wanton (and sometimes wonton) waste. My mom spends much of the summer in Northport. And much of the summer in Northport on Lake Michigan. And much of the time on Lake Michigan picking up the trash that washes up on shore.

Art. Bottlecaps, lighters, straws, shotgun casings, balloons – so many balloons, some presumably from the 90s when children used to send their personal information to strangers via balloon. This trash is not one-man's-trash-is-another-man's-treasure trash. Especially when you factor in the algae, which is a whole nother environmental/pronunciation issue. But my mom (aforementioned great lady artist) has turned it into art that we ... treasure.

Remember art galleries? Remember libraries? Well, there's an art gallery inside the Huntington Woods Library and soon it will have Mom Trash Beach Art on display for your enjoyment and edification.

I'll probably put a bunch of pictures at the bottom of this article – still deciding – but you should really come see for yourself. It has all the things great art needs: colors, textures, patterns, inspiring stuff, depressing stuff, labels on the wall with information.

You can check it out (anytime you can check out books, even if you can't check books out) from June 4 to August 31, assuming there are 31 days in August this year. Better still, come when she's there. I would love to see you for the Opening Reception next Tuesday, June 14, from 6:00 to 8:00. If you miss us (half as much as we miss you) on the 9th, you can hear her talk about her work on June 14 at 7:00 before she leaves the spotlight and returns to her life and work as Banksy.

Those were the pictures. But really, if you've managed to scroll this far, come see everything for yourself this summer.