Matzke Fine Art and Design

Danielle Bodine

I find great joy in searching through hardware and antique stores, flea markets, garage sales, recycled centers to find “found objects” to use in my artwork. I am also gifted many wonderful “treasures” from friends and family that often arrive on my doorstep.
One of these was a bag of wooden golf tees from my sister. I had been working on a grouping of small, coiled baskets for a show and set the bag down next to them. I took a few of the tees out of the bag and began playing around with them and the inspiration came to elevate the little baskets with golf tee “legs.” I then collaged and painted the baskets and searched through my vast collection of objects and began to find the perfect “head” to embellish each figure. Thus the first grouping of “Little Guys” came into being.

I find great joy in searching through hardware and antique stores, flea markets, garage sales, recycled centers to find “found objects” to use in my artwork. I am also gifted many wonderful “treasures” from friends and family that often arrive on my doorstep.
One of these was a bag of wooden golf tees from my sister. I had been working on a grouping of small, coiled baskets for a show and set the bag down next to them. I took a few of the tees out of the bag and began playing around with them and the inspiration came to elevate the little baskets with golf tee “legs.” I then collaged and painted the baskets and searched through my vast collection of objects and began to find the perfect “head” to embellish each figure. Thus the first grouping of “Little Guys” came into being.

I find great joy in searching through hardware and antique stores, flea markets, garage sales, recycled centers to find “found objects” to use in my artwork. I am also gifted many wonderful “treasures” from friends and family that often arrive on my doorstep.
One of these was a bag of wooden golf tees from my sister. I had been working on a grouping of small, coiled baskets for a show and set the bag down next to them. I took a few of the tees out of the bag and began playing around with them and the inspiration came to elevate the little baskets with golf tee “legs.” I then collaged and painted the baskets and searched through my vast collection of objects and began to find the perfect “head” to embellish each figure. Thus the first grouping of “Little Guys” came into being.

Like many other artists I have had more time to organize my studio this last year and was delighted to find many “treasures” I had forgotten about. Each one brought back memories of past trips to Japan and other travels. They inspired me to create the new series of “Little Guys” that are in this show. I once again chose the ancient basketry technique of coiling to create them, a process I find both meditative and relaxing – a perfect choice for these unique times.