My Found Art! Experiment

Part One

In 2003, I came across a community-based Web site named Found Art!

Featured in USA Today, Found Art! encourages creative participation in a global art project that "strives to make the world a better place right now by empowering people across to globe to share on a soul level."

Continued from their mission statement:

"We believe in the power of art to communicate and heal. We believe all people are creative and that the expression of that creativity opens the heart of both the creator and the receiver. Open hearts communicate at a deeper level, are naturally more compassionate, and are more aware and concerned about our global family." 

How does this sharing happen? In a very adventurous and selfless way. And you don't even have to be a bona fide artist to participate! All you need to be is thoughtful and creative. Here are the simple steps you take to become part of this fun project:

1. Register a free account with the Found Art! Web site and get access to your own personal gallery, journal, and messaging system (in addition to all of the other site features such as a message board, community gallery, e-postcards, and resources.)
   
   
2. Create your work of art.
   
   
3. Register your art piece(s) on the Found Art! Web site.
   
   
4. Tag your art and leave it somewhere for a stranger to find. Your recipient can then leave you feedback on the Found Art! Web site by following the information on your tag.

Since I believe the Found Art! project is a noble way to help spread more good in the world, I decided to participate myself. Read about my experience with the Found Art! project below.

Creating the Art

After establishing my personal gallery on the Found Art! Web site, I began working on my art pieces. Over the course of two weeks, I created three unique works of "art" — painted and embellished from blank canvas items I picked up at a local Let's Learn store: two small books and a jigsaw puzzle.

During the process of creating each piece, I took advantage of the time to reflect on the purpose for the Found Art! project and hoped that my creative efforts would inspire someone in some small way. I truly enjoyed the process of creating for myself, whether or not the pieces turned out well enough to use in the experiment. The results of my artistic endeavors follow.

A Puzzling ARTifact

The nature of jigsaw puzzles fascinate me. It's like synergy: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each piece, though small and seemingly insignificant by itself, comes together to form a bigger picture. In this case, an expressive painting. 

After "sponge" painting a colorful abstract design on the blank puzzle "canvas" with acrylic paint, I separated the pieces and decided to use them for a dozen Found Art! opportunities. Close up, each individual piece was itself a painted canvas to an artistic eye. See, I said that you didn't have to be a bona fide artist to do this!

Dream Journals

The blank books sparked an idea in me to create a journal-like object to be defined by the recipient. Since the inside pages were blank and durable, they were good for writing or for a variety of artistic expressions such as collage, drawing, or painting (the book sizes were 10.5" x 8.5" and 8.25" x 6.25").

I named both of the final book pieces Dream Journals after immersing the covers with colorful "impressionistic" dabs of paint. Then I created and glued a polymer clay heart accent to the lower corner of each cover and secured them with gold curling ribbon as a final touch.

With my art pieces done, I was ready to register them in my Found Art! gallery and "lose" them into the world.

Next: Part Two — Losing the Art & Feedback from Finders