Are you a collector? Do you find comfort in gatherings of objects?
My sister is the consummate collector. Growing up, there was a parade of well-organized and curated collections on her bedroom shelves—dolls, horses, penguins, clowns (scary!), elephants—all eventually retired and replaced with a new fascination. It has felt charmingly familiar to see the parade of groupings on her Collection A Day project this past year, and to get to page through them as they are collected in her just-released book.
Like so many of the things that she was good at and I was not (making friends, athleticism, being pretty among them), collecting was not something of which I saw myself capable. I was too sloppy, too scattered, too undisciplined. As I grew into a young adult, I fancied myself a vagabond and eschewed all possessions that couldn’t fit in a few boxes. But, all along, I was a collector too, carrying jars of sea glass and striped stones, buttons and letterpress cuts, back and forth across the country. I could not deny the comfort of objects.
Now that I have settled into one place, one home, for ten years, my collections have grown, and, like Lisa’s, they ebb and flow with current interests. I tell myself I only collect useful or wearable things, but how many small lidded boxes does one need?
Those of you in Portland, Oregon can meet my sister Lisa and have your book signed at Land Gallery on Friday, April 22nd. Looking forward to it.