Artsistic Combinations

Reese Cup: Mashup Extraordinaire

 Breathing New Life into Art 
One of my favorite parts of the TV show Glee is when they do a mashup, merging different songs together.  If a mashup can freshen up old eighties tunes, maybe it could help me work my way out of an artistic rut.

There was a great example of artistic recombination at play over at The "Bead Soup Blog Party" by Lori Anderson. There jewelry artists experiment with the idea of "mashing" their styles to grow creatively. For the latest challenge, each artist exchanged jewelry pieces that were not selling with another artist who adapted the piece to create a new work of art. Here are a couple of examples from the swap.

Pretty cool, huh? The first set shows a pendant by Lori, recreated by Johanna Rhodes. The second is a jade piece by Loretta Carstensen, recreated by Laurel Steven. You can read about the creative process behind both pieces on their blogs.

I'm going to spend a little time this weekend exploring this concept in my own work. Maybe a little mashing can create something special.

Have you ever done a "mashup"?