by Erin Spurrier
The fourth annual Adams County Living Library was an opportunity to engage in conversations with human “books”. People shared their unique life experiences and points of view. I had the pleasure of attending Barbara Clement’s Living Library session “Assembling an Artist” at the Littlestown Library.
Barbara talked about how she grew up always interested in art. When she was in school, she always created art about the story to go along with her book reports. Barbara studied art in college in Philadelphia, and her love for art continued to grow. Her college Art History classes were crucial in helping her “see” the potential of found objects. She currently uses found objects to create her one-of-a-kind mixed media assemblages. Barbara’s work has been exhibited in several juried art shows for miniatures and in Adams County Arts Council shows.
It was very interesting to hear about the different objects Barbara uses in her work, such as McDonald’s toys, beer bottles, handles, keyboards, and puzzle pieces. Many of the found objects she finds when she goes to thrift stores and antique malls. She loves to recycle, reuse, and repurpose in order to create something beautiful. Papier-Mâché is one of her favorite materials to use when creating her artwork. Her art projects are very time-consuming, and she is usually working on multiple projects at once.
My favorite piece she discussed was a sculpture she made out of McDonald’s toys. It was a tall clock that was interactive and had a game of tic-tac-toe you could play as well. I thought this piece was very impressive, there were so many different toys and I thought the addition of the tic-tac-toe game was very unique.
Overall, I had a great experience attending this Living Library session. I learned a lot about how to create art out of found objects, and it inspired me to make more time to create art. I’m sure the other people attending left feeling inspired by her creativity as well.
Erin Spurrier is Marketing Assistant at Adams County Library System.