Found Art Project

The theme of our found art project was the awareness of Gay rights. We were on a mission to collect 10 items which dealt with people’s opposition of or approval for gay and lesbian people. These items were required to be from between 1970 and 1990 and needed to represent key events, people, places, concepts, and organizations.

On our set up of the project we had two boxes, one for the items supporting gays, and the other box with items opposing gays. For both supporting and opposition items we acquired a couple of posters from either Harvey Milk (a major supporter of gays) or posters from riots of people trying to get rid of gays. We used the internet to find quotes said by major influences from the US in this time period. We got a couple squares of quilt examples from the Aids Quilt, an Elton John record (he was a supporter of gays), a move dealing with gays, and a sticker about accepting gay people. We got these items from teachers, neighbors, libraries, and flea markets.

If I were to do this project again I would plan much better and use my time more efficiently. I would try to find more found art objects to cover the boxes and I would assemble the boxes and objects to look a little less rushed. I would have liked to have found a shirt or pins dealing with my topic.

Some advice for people doing this project in the future is, do not wait until the last minute to find your ten found art items. This may seem like an easy task but it is not. You may have items in mind that you want to use for your project that has been thrown away or an item might not fit the requirements. Another piece of advice is that if your boxes require painting or decorating before the quotes and items go on, you should do it on your own time. There will not be enough time in class to paint and assemble the items.