El Anatsui, bottle trees, and such

We went to see an exhibit by El Anatsui this Saturday (which my kids STILL proclaim "the best day ever!")

It was beautiful, amazing and quite inspiring.
Huge tapestries and sculptures all done from recycled products.
I was so amazed by his work that I looked him up online afterwards just to find more of his artwork. What he does with "trash" is so beautiful, and it really makes you think about our culture more.
How we consume (...and comsume, ...and consume some more,) without any relationship on what our trash does to our surroundings.
We've completely removed ourselves from our environment. We try to control it and not work within in. Ya knows what I mean (come on and give me a "whoop-whoop!)
Anywho here is his website,:
http://elanatsui.com/
If you get a chance to see his work, do it.
It may just be your "best day ever!"

So as I was planting my flowers (made from tin cans,) and installing an edging around them (upside-down bottles,) I started think about bottle trees.
This very wise woman (that's you Rebecca!) once told me about these strange things that the southern peeps have. I've always "meant" to google the things, but you know how that goes! So while it was fresh in me brain I looked it up, and here is what I found...

Bottle Trees were brought to the U.S. by slaves from Africa. They were very popular in the south, especially in Mississippi, around the 1950's.


The superstition behind them is that the bottle trees were place near the entrance of the front door. Evil spirits trying to enter your house would then become caught inside the bottles. On windy days you could even hear the spirits that were trapped inside (whoooo....)
From what I understand they are not as big now superstition-wise as they were in the 50's, but have become more of a folk art. Here some pics from along Highway 66


Since it has become more artsy, people have also become more clever with their bottle trees. So if you have a small apartment, you may way to go for a bonsai tree

And if yer just plain lazy, but love the retro look you can order them online, bottles and all!

So as I searched the wondrous web, I also found someone's personal blog about how they made their very own bottle tree out of and old Christmas tree.
And hey, guess what???
I just happen to have and old Christmas tree sitting in our front yard (yep, we cool like that!)
So I brought out the ol' shears and cut it down. Then I dug up the stand and whaala...


So back to El Anatsui....
I loved the quote that he had posted up in his exhibit, so I thought I'd share...

"Art grows out of each particular situation, and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up."

So, I'm a guessin' that means that the environment threw up my Christmas tree?


Jan 24, 2008