Quirky Little Houses

When I moved to Albuquerque in 2003, I found it extremely easy to integrate myself into the art scene -- people, contacts and opportunities appeared before me almost as if by magic.  One door opened onto another and another and another and I soon found I was going to have to carefully pick and choose how to spend my time because there were SO many things to do and places to go and shows in which to participate, etc.

One of the first places with which I became connected in Albuquerque was OFFCenter Community Arts Project http://www.offcenterarts.blogspot.com/  http://offcenterarts.org/

OFFCenter's Mission Statement is

We believe in artmaking as central to community building.

You can read more about the Project's vision and mission at  http://offcenterarts.org/vision.htm

Over the years I have taken workshops at OFFCenter, taught workshops at OFFCenter, modeled in wearable art fashion shows at OFFCenter, participated in "regular"  (well, at OFFCenter I guess it could also be considered "irregular") art shows, volunteered at and for OFFCenter, and I have a booth at OFFCenter's annual Folk Art Festival.  Here I am in 2009 at my booth:

One of OFFCenter's major fund-raisers for the past 7 years has been its "Albuquirky House Tour" and "Little Houses Silent Auction.  For the silent auction, artists throughout the community create small pieces of art in the form of quirky little houses.  You can start with a wooden form (usually quite quirky and crooked) supplied by OFFCenter or use anything of your own.  This year the little house auction will take place on May 3 at Sumner & Dene Gallery from 5-8 pm during the First Friday ArtsCrawl and the house tour is May 4 from 11-4pm. 

About this year's house tour:

Take a self-guided house tour of three uniquely artistic, quirky homes in Albuquerque while giving to a great cause. The homes and sculpture gardens part of this year's tour range from a violin maker's shop/home overtaken by story-high dragons, a artist/hair dresser's shop/home laden with murals and mosaics to a multi-media artist/collector's home splashed with colored walls, artwork, mosaics and more!

http://offcenterarts.org/housetour11.htm

Last year over 150 artists participated in the creation of Little Houses and the silent auction raised over $6,000!!!!

I love creating the little houses for the silent auction and have to say that I am quite pleased with my creation for this year's auction.

I picked up a blank wooden form  at OFFcenter -- made from sawed up 4x4's.  I knew exactly what I wanted to make this year, but was initially thwarted by the fact I couldn't find anywhere in my studio the wonderful bag of buttons I wanted to use for roofing tiles. 

So, on to Plan B which was pretty close to Plan A, but in an entirely different color range.  Having just completed a lot of work for the Albuquerque Art Museum's Deco Japan show, I had some leftover yuzen paper, and decided to cover the house itself with yuzen.  I sifted through the many boxes of buttons I have my studio and came up with a nice pile of buttons in the same colors as the paper.

The first two photos show the finished project -- which I call "Blue Button Bungalow" -- paper covered exterior walls, painted gable, and button roofing tiles.

The front door is adorned with a bead doorknob and black/silver moon button, a wind chime hangs from the eaves, a gray cat sits next to the WELCOME mat, and three little pots of flowers grace the front yard.

Below is a close-up shot of the button roof.

And, here are a few of my creations from previous years:

For those of you who are old enough to remember watching the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" -- the "Fractured Fairy Tales" portion of the show was my favorite part -- traditional fairy tales with storylines altered and modernized for humorous effect.  So, this "house" was my fractured fairytale version of "The Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe" and had so many children, she didn't know what to do. Well, my little old lady knew what to do -- she "donated" some of her children to other famous fairy tale character.  A little twisted, yes.

Here's the poem I wrote to go along with the piece:

FRACTURED FAIRY TALES --
THE OLD LADY WHO LIVED IN A SHOE

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe
She had so many children she decided to get rid of a few.

Two to the shoemaker who despite of himself
Said they‘d be a great addition to his six little elves.

Two more to Cinderella to assist in her chores
Still leaving the old lady with seven children more.

Two to live with Red Riding Hood to help with the load
Of watching out for mean old wolves hiding ‘long the road.

Two to Snow White and the Handsome Prince with The Kiss
In whose loving marriage wee little ones were still amiss.

And two more to Jack with the Beanstalk green
They’d be fine companions and keep his house clean.

And the one that was left was her precious blonde child
Who would someday be a teenager - pregnant, disrespectful and wild.

But in the meantime they’d both live in the shoe
That failed to meet proper zoning, fire safety and off-street
parking regulations.
K. Schweizer
2008

I don't know who bought the house -- but I thought the non-rhyming final line would reel in an architect or city planner with as quirky a sense of humor as my own.
　

And here is my "House of Cards."  This little house is another wooden form -- both sided and roofed with tiny little playing cards from a "thumb deck" I found at one of the local dollar stores.  Each playing card is about 1-1/2" tall.  I happened to be at OFFCenter the night the house was purchased -- I always love seeing my artwork find its home!

And here are photos of my "stick houses" that are put together with twist ties.  I got started making these little guys and just didn't want to stop!

Look for future posts with more of my artwork created for or at OFFCenter!