Walking through the Materials for the Arts warehouse last week, I was struck by how ordinary items suddenly seemed extraordinary. Rows & rows of discarded binders looked like art.  Pieces of rusted hardware on a shelf suddenly seemed beautiful. The simple offering of these items as materials for art making -- the possibility of transforming them into something different -- seemed like one of the greatest testaments to choosing creativity. What could have ended up in a landfill was now sparking imagination & possibility.

That's what I love about making art. It's the chance to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, of expressing the inexpressible, of turning the gritty into the beautiful, and making the impossible within reach.

As we walked through the aisles, we stumbled upon a frame. It was oversized, but surprisingly lightweight, sturdy yet flexible. There was something about it that made me grab it and jump inside. I knew I had to take it home.

My original plan for the frame was to string the many beads that I found and intersperse coffee filters throughout. But as I was working, I kept on looking at the solid black frame against the thin, translucent coffee filters. The light was pouring through the window, creating different reflections on the material. It was soft and soothing. I decided to pare it down to the coffee filters and paint them in watercolors. As I created the first line with the wire, I fell in love with the shape it made. It felt like there was movement, but also a lightness to it. As I prepared to create the next slew of flowers, there was something about the whimsy and weightlessness of the path within the open frame that made me want to leave it just as it was.

I began to remember how much fun we had playing around with the frame at MFTA, jumping inside it, making silly faces, and what an adventure it was to take it on the subway ride home. I thought, what if instead of filling the space with my own composition, I could take this giant frame for a walk around the city and see what kind of artwork might be possible by looking at my everyday surroundings in a new way.