…as artfully repurposed by my beloved.
Not all of these found/locally-scrounged objects are easy to identify!
This post also salutes the first rock musicians.
All items in this post’s art object were very recently scrounged, whilst out walking, nearby.
You may well recognise the Banksia cone – from a Firewood Banksia, Banksia menziesii, I think.
All but one of the world’s Banksia-proper species naturally occur in Australia, only.
The overwhelming majority of Banksia-proper species occur naturally in southwestern Western Australia, only.
(Debate still rages over whether Dryandra species should or should not be classified as Banksias. That is why – depending where your search lands – you will be told there are seventy-something Banksia species – or nearly twice that number. Click here for more about Banksias, however you choose to define them)
Banksias are present in many Pelican Yoga posts. To find the relevant ones, simply enter Banksia (lower case, not in italics) in the search field below the magnifying glass icon on top right of whatever page you look at.
Award yourself an elephant stamp if you recognised the papery bark. The wind had peeled it off one of many nearby “paperbark trees”/tea trees” (all, melaleucas. Discover more about Australia’s “marvellous melaleucas” here )
There is a piece of charred wood, and a fragment of reddish bark – both retrieved from the ground beneath local eucalypts.
As for the wood upon which the aforementioned are arranged…it is no such thing!
Ain’t it grand how prolonged exposure can transform a discarded grill plate?
Yes, this artwork’s ‘canvas’ is a metal piece that once carried sausages, chops and steaks as they were barbecued in a nearby backyard.
STOP PRESS:
I misunderstood; the two previous sentences are unintentionally untrue. The artwork’s “canvas” is indeed metallic, but is a grille, not a grill plate.
We are not sure what exactly were its original place and role, but we are sure that they did not involve barbecuing!
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Our species’ first and oldest musical instruments were also “found objects”.
As detailed here, some 21st century humans believe that Stonehenge was not just an astronomically-oriented edifice, built with religious/ritual intent, but also an enormous musical instrument.
Let’s hear it for Lithophones!
This one, still played in Vietnam, has a history of at least several thousand years:
Steve Turre is one of the world’s leading jazz trombonists.
The loudest applause at his concerts, however, usually happens when Steve plays his other instrument:
If you would like to hear all of his shell-centric elaboration on Miles Davis’ All Blues, google for this: Steve Turre shells all blues YouTube.
And if you are up for a deep dive into music made from all sorts of found/repurposed objects (even living things), click here, and prepare to be amazed…and, occasionally, frustrated. At least most of its embedded videos should work, but some of the Beeb’s own radio links are dead.