Learning from El Anatsui

I love creating and designing with discarded items. To me there is nothing greater than taking an item that is old and worn out and making something great. This movement, this specific maker movement is on the rise. You can seen it in the works of artists such as El Anatsui. El Anatsui (born 1944) is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria. I first saw his designs and work in an San Francisco, like the person in this image, I stood before the artist's monumental piece made from bottle caps and almost fell over with awe. I could not believe how perfect his work was. How he had taken rusty, old beer bottle caps and made something unbelievably great. So inspired, I applied for a grant to build a structure using Anatsui's techniques. I thought it would be amazing to create a structure that could be build by a community and could be a temporal art space that could be set up in many different areas.

It is my hope to build a beautiful structure made of caps. I have begun my collection of tops and look forward to beginning my own adventure in design the Anatsui way.