“Stop Putting Your Trash in Our Little Library, John Foster.”

The "trash" tossed in the trash.

 

I make a lot of stuff. Most of it goes out as mail. I’m talking, hundreds of collages and ephemera a year. 95% of everything I make ends in the mail. That other 5% is a mix of stuff I keep, and put in folders or in random piles, or things I drop off to Little Libraries.

The stuff I leave in Little Libraries can be framed collages or assemblage pieces. During the summer, I have a lot to drop off because I’m working on things nonstop. Instead of keeping it all, or mailing it all, it makes sense to think of other ways to get it all out there. Mailing it would be too expensive and trying to sale it would be a waste of time. I’ve done things in this fashion for a few years.

I consistently visit two or three Little Libraries, with a few others as standbys. I like certain ones because I can fit larger items in them, or because I have a relationship with the owner. I drop things off as they collect in bags in the back of my car. Although it’s fun to distribute things this way, you rarely receive a response. I don’t expect a response. In fact, I have only heard of one person that’s taken something. That response, was positive. I read about it on one of those online, neighborhood forums. At worst, (maybe best) I’m giving away free frames. Frames are cheaper than stamps anyway.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent the above, attached picture. He works at a store that has a Little Library out front. Right when you walk in the store, you’re greeted with two repurposed newspaper stands. It’s one of my favorite places to drop off stuff. Not only do I put “makings” in there, I fill up the children’s Little Library (right across from the adult one) with collage packets and boxes of leftover blocks. It’s fun for me, and maybe a few folks enjoy the items. You go to the store, you take a look at one of the libraries. Things disappear within my weekly visits, so I assume people are taking them.

My friend, who works at the store, posted online that he saw something I put in the library tossed in the trash. It was in the trash, inside of the store. Not only had they tossed it, but they wrote “Stop Putting Your Trash in Our Little Library, John Foster.” It was such a bold response that I was happy someone had done it. Instead of looking past something they had no interest in, they got out a sharpie and made their complaints known. I was more offended that they had spelled my name wrong.

As for the actual piece, I get it. It’s not that good. I’m pretty sure I glued something to the middle of it that had fallen off. If the angry graffiti artist had seen that item, they would have easily identified the piece as something truly great, instead of “trash.” They all can’t be winners, and this might not be that one. Their lettering, the placement and the spacing of what they wrote seemed on point to me, they chose the right piece too. I kind of like their additions. We became collaborators as soon as they marked on the thing. To be honest, I think I know who did it. I think someone was using a pen to settle a score. Fuzzy thoughts and proximity to the Little Library might have created this situation. If it isn’t that person, who knows?

Since I didn’t see the message until the end of summer, I didn’t have anything to put in the boxes. Everything I made during the summer had been mailed or already donated to random people or places around town. There was nothing left! Clearly, obviously, I’m going to target this box even more in the future, I simply need to make more “trash” for the box. 

Broadside collaboration between the angry person, Res Nullius (San Diego) and me.