After The Mints Are Gone, The Tin Goes To The Trash A circus-inspired Altoid shadow box from tinnovator Karen Burene.
Picture courtesy Karen Burene.

Basic oil-painted canvas may be what many people think of after they think of artwork, nevertheless it comes in all sizes and shapes, and artists can use a range of materials for his or her medium. Sculptors use clay, metal, wooden, plastic, glass or stone, simply to call a number of. Main art installations can take up metropolis blocks. Within the case of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the building itself, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is a part of the artwork. Some artists only work with shadow and gentle, bounced off a white wall. You can''t depart out the sketch pad, performance artwork, murals or graffiti artwork. And this is just the tip of the art iceberg.

There''s one other form of artist that makes use of found or acquired objects as inspiration. An outdated television set is repurposed and turns into a chunk of artwork; discarded soda bottles are configured to form a giant mosaic. One other identify for this type of artwork is "altered or recycled" artwork. That is what Michigan artist Karen Burene calls her distinctive style of art. Burene, under her Chaotic Artworks banner, uses discarded Altoids breath mint tins to make small shadow boxes. Shadow bins can mean a couple of things. Many shadow containers are shallow wooden squares which might be used to protect and show one thing -- army metals, flags, keepsakes and the like. Shadow containers can also showcase artwork, and are actually a part of the piece. If you remember back to elementary college, you most likely made a shadow field or two in artwork class using a shoe field to depict a scene. These beauties were normally made with crayons, paper and a few dozen stray pieces of dry macaroni.

Burene''s Altoids tin shadow boxes fall into the art class. She sells her tiny pieces on-line, but after HowStuffWorks interviewed her for this text, it''s clear that hers is a labor of love. On-line sales permit her to maintain the operation small and enjoyable, and she''s now an element of a bigger group of "tinnovators" who repurpose Altoids tins into every thing from belt buckles to custom pill containers. As it turns out, the tin for the "curiously strong mint" has something of a cult following. Even non-artists have a tendency to save lots of the small steel tins, mainly because of their usefulness. As Burene puts it, "They''re sturdy and the proper size for storing small gadgets. That makes them tough to throw away."


Tinnovator Identify: Karen Burene
Location: Southgate, Mich.


Occupation: Artist and Crafter
Tinnovating Since: 2006


Tinnovation: Altoids Tin Shadow Bins
Altoids Tin Shadow Boxes

Karen Burene is initially from Flint, Mich., however now resides within the suburbs south of the city. She, like many kids, acquired her first craving for art in class in school, working with paper, cardboard, chalk, markers, glue and sure, dried macaroni. Coming from a creative family didn''t harm either. Her quick and extended family took half in everything from poetry and metalwork to music and painting. These early days undoubtedly served as artistic inspiration. In altered and assembled artwork, Burene discovered a medium that recalled her faculty artwork courses, and one that allowed her to dive proper in as a self-taught artist.

She was originally inspired to develop into a tinnovator after seeing another Altoids tin artwork in on-line blogs. Like many crafters, she took an "I can try this" attitude and obtained to work creating her personal version of the Altoids shadow field. Burene draws a lot of her inspiration from the ocean, which is clear in her artwork. Her very first box was a mermaid scene that used real seashells and starfish. She''s also labored with a Parisian theme with her "Moulin Rouge" shadow field, and some Asian and circus inspired boxes. Sooner or later, she plans to put to good use the small, rusted metallic components she''s been gathering for some steam punk-impressed shadow bins.

Burene makes use of a wide range of supplies to create her shadow bins. The one instruments she needs is a few needle-nose pliers to take away the tin high, but she uses vintage materials, lace, ribbon, string, wire and any kind of found object she thinks would possibly work. Whereas she does paint a few of the tins, the priming and preparation time takes a bit of too long for her style. Burene gets around this time consuming task by creatively utilizing fabric and vintage paper products to cowl the tins.

As a way to make shadow packing containers from Altoids tins, there''s one material you can''t do without -- the tin itself. She gets most of these from buying her own and eating the mints, but she does get some donated from mates and household and sometimes has to purchase the empty tins online. Whereas 外壁塗装 広島 hasn''t hooked up with every other tinnovators but, she''s keen to do so. She retains up with what''s occurring within the tinnovation world as a member of two different Altoid artwork Flickr teams. She attracts inspiration from other Altoids artists and pairs it with her personal imagination.

While the principle cause behind Burene''s artwork is for a enjoyable, artistic outlet and a superb option to make a bit of cash, there is another issue at play -- the atmosphere. The way in which she sees it, every Altoids tin she will be able to repackage as art is one less piece of metal sitting in a landfill. Because the artist herself places it, "They''re just too cool to throw away."


You''ll find Burene''s art at www.chaoticartworks.webs.com and www.chaoticartworks.etsy.com.
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Chaotic Artworks
"Altered Altoids Tins." chaoticartworks.blogspot.com, August 3, 2007. http://chaoticartworks.blogspot.com/2007/09/altered-altoids-tins.html


Burene, Karen. Interview, June 30, 2009.