A Collection a Day, 2010: May 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

Day 151

Vintage French flash cards (part of larger collection).

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Day 149

Vintage Birds of Australia trading cards.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Day 148

Vintage postcards (part of larger collection).

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Day 146

Miniature wooden bowling pins (part of larger miniature toy collection).

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Monday, May 24, 2010

Day 144

Vintage envelopes (part of much larger collection).

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Friday, May 21, 2010

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Day 139

Vintage prayer cards (part of larger collection).

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Monday, May 17, 2010

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Day 135

Tiny (approximately 1 inch) vintage photographs (part of a large collection).

Friday, May 14, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Day 132

Vintage decorative kitchen bowls and baking dishes.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Monday, May 10, 2010

Day 130

Old pastels (part of larger vintage art supply colleciton).

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Day 129

Vintage red books (part of a larger vintage book collection).

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Friday, May 7, 2010

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Day 125

Vintage religious lotto game cards (part of larger bingo/lotto card collection).

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Monday, May 3, 2010

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Day 122

Vintage Hungarian stamps. (Click on image to see it larger.)

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Day 121

Vintage plastic doilies.

This is a blog documenting a project that will span exactly one year, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. On each of those 365 days, I will photograph or draw (and occasionally paint) one collection. Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint.

Since I was a young girl, I have been obsessed both with collecting and with arranging, organizing and displaying my collections. This is my attempt to document my collections, both the real and the imagined. Some of my collections are so large that I will need to photograph them separately over several days. I will likely not attempt to photograph collections in which the individual pieces are large in size or awkward in shape (i.e. my art collection or vintage enamel dishware collection). The only rule is that I must photograph or draw a whole or part of a collection each day for 365 days and post the result here on this blog.

The practice of collecting and documenting collections is as old as the hills. I want onlookers here to know that I do not profess to be doing anything new or unique or ingenious. I am embarking on this project because I love my collections, and I want to document them in a way that makes sense to me, and share them with whoever might be interested in looking at them.

This blog is open for comments. I encourage you to share your thoughts about what memories the photographs and drawings of my collections spark for you and what, if any, sense of nostalgia or repulsion they make you feel.

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For those of you who have stumbled here and don’t already know me, my name is Lisa Congdon. I am an artist and illustrator, and I live in the Mission District of San Francisco with my partner Clay Lauren Walsh and our Chihuahua Wilfredo and two cats, Barry and Margaret. If you are interested, you can see the kind of artwork I make on my website or on the website of my illustration agent, Lilla Rogers. If you would like to see what my home looks like (as it contains many of my collections) you can see a house tour here. You can view my studio (also a repository) here.

Follow me on Twitter.

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Enjoy.