Pearle Northrop

Artist Statement
It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I started taking what I do seriously and it took even longer to consider myself an artist. I love to paint whatever I can get my hands on from things as small as a Scrabble® piece to as big as a dresser and hopefully even bigger someday. Whatever it is I will paint it. I love transforming trash into treasure literally. Imagine that a chair that came from a dumpster (2006) made it into a museum (2009). It blows me away to think that something I did creates a sense of awe in a viewer’s eye.
I was talking to a friend a few years back about my love for furniture, my relationship with chairs in particular. There was a chair that I found discarded and ultimately forgotten. I came upon this chair accidentally. I wasn't looking for a relationship. Anyway, the chair was a very handsome chair with so many things to look at. His back was decorative; his arms were long and lean. His legs...I have never seen such beautiful legs. But he was beaten down. His self-esteem had long been worn out. His seat, which was repeatedly upholstered over years, was torn and faded. His stuffing was busting out revealing his age and loss of pride. Me, being a care taker and rescuer of sorts....picked up the chair and brought it home. He sat at the top of the stairs for a few weeks in a corner. My friends however saw this chair and commented on how ugly he was. They wondered why I had him in my home commenting on how dirty he was and how unattractive he was due to the years of neglect. I ignored them and kept him around. Finally one day I decided to put him on my coffee table and take the layers of cloth and wool stuffing off of his seat. Then I cleaned him, primed him and painted him black. Three months later I sat back and looked at him and this is what I saw.....A chair, a man restored...but not only restored but given a whole new purpose. He was beautiful again. He was unique and wonderful....The same chair that my friends were grossed out by....is now a chair that they ask permission to touch. Amazing.....One thing is for certain...NOTHING STAYS THE SAME! Change is inevitable and what is ugly or dirty or discarded as trash can be saved, can be rescued and can be made shinier than new!
Taking discarded forgotten pieces and giving them their self-esteem back is a passion for me. Living in a world where we discard things so easily I’d like to think I am making an itty bitty difference.
Pearle Northrop

Thursday, March 4, 2010

MEDICATE ME!!! XOXOX






It has been two weeks and sadly I am not feeling myself. I felt this awkwardness creep in and as it did I found nothing was going right. It started with dinner one evening. I don't typically have a difficult time whipping something up in the kitchen but the first evening of this off balance time began with the worse dinner I have ever created. My family got quite a laugh out loud moment as they laughed at my failure.....LOL
So for two weeks I have been completely off balance. I have tried to do things but I can't. I can't paint, I can't think, I can hardly function to do the everyday normal things like washing dishes and what not. I have been a bit woozy and nauseous and short tempered. OH BOY! I remember as a child I was told that people don't know when they are crazy. Perhaps I am having a crossing over time where as I will be officially nuts and incapable of creation when the process is over!! 
I am sure that there are many who will tell me that process of crossing over to the crazy side has long since taken place....and I am sure they are right if my childhood information is correct. I suppose it truly is better to be unaware of craziness than it is to know....that way I think I am normal just fitting into society's huge irrational puzzle rather than a nut trying to to reshape into a rational puzzle piece. With all of this writing in circles nonsense....I think I feel an urge to do something productive today. I am not quite sure what it is but I think I will try. Can't fail wonderfully unless I try miserably!
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