April 20, 2011

a special art project

Going to Ghana this past winter adjusted my thinking.  The cliche way to say it?  It changed my life.  I don't ever want to forget how I felt there.  While there, I took tons of pictures of doors and collected bottle caps.  Random, I know.  I didn't know why I was doing it.  I just knew something would come of it eventually.

Chanda and Jake (the amazing couple that is living at The Father's House for a year) recently came back to America for a few weeks.  When Jake saw me, one of the first things he said was "We've been saving bottle caps for ya!"  He held up a plastic bag filled with these colorful momentos of Africa and tears filled my eyes.  I remembered at that moment my time in Ghana.  It's so interesting to me how an abstract piece of "junk" can bring back memories; make you feel so much.

I am so excited to finally be able to do something with these little works of art!  I started by laying them all out to see what I had...


I always planned from the beginning to do something very random with them, but once I started playing around with them I ended up with a fun pattern that I think looks much more deliberate.  Add a $20 shadowbox from IKEA and voila!
This colorful shadowbox will grace our hallway and will be the first thing we see as we enter into the house from the garage.  I'm hoping this piece will help me remember my time in Ghana for years to come.

If you haven't heard about my trip to Ghana yet, you can read about it here, here, here and here.  You can support the efforts of The Father's House by going here.  And you can attend a crazy fun concert that I'll be photographing here - proceeds go to The Father's House!

4 comments:

  1. Love the bottle cap idea. It is such a fun way to keep a good memory alive.

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  2. Love, LOVE, Love it! I was thinking about doing something similar with all the beads - you've inspired me to think harder and DO it! :)

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  3. One word: Beautiful.

    You're so talented!! Great job and thank you for sharing your experiences in Ghana. It’s inspiring and beautiful.

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  4. Love these, Rachel. What a creative way to remember. :)

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