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The Jar Project

JarProject
Sampling of works from The Jar Project… top left: “The Jar Project”  by Damir Porobic (a Marshmallow Fluff jar containing a black & white laser copy of itself); top center: “Dried Maine Crab” by Michael Heiko; top right: “Watson, come here! I need more Dippity Doo!” by Jim Flahaven (Hair gel, tinsel, beads, fishing lures); 2nd row, left: “Nuts About Drupes” by Adriane Herman (Recipe, almonds and photo of shelf of Jars of nuts); 2nd row, right: Remnants from the “Burn Diaries” by Shoshannah White; 3rd row, left: “E.R.T.(Early Romance Test)” by Nicole Hogarty (Slime—water, glue, soap); 3rd row, center: “Recipes for Eating” by Lis Janes; 3rd row, right: “Tangled Map” by Jeff Woodbury (Dissected map); bottom row, left: “Chatwood” by Cat Jensen; bottom, center: “Gallery in a Jar” by Jane Sutherland; bottom, right: “Hermit Island, Maine” by Elliott Teel (Horlick’s Malted Milk Jar with archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle Bamboo paper)

Larder I learned about The Jar Project via Lisa Dahl’s participation. (Her “Larder” jar on the right contains houses similar to the houses in Suburban Export, only these are made specifically from can good labels.)

The brainchild of Portland-based artist Alex Sax, the Jar Project highlights the creative contributions of numerous local talents…

The jar is an emblem of an era when our lives moved at a slower pace and we had a stronger connection to nature, community and our sources of nourishment. Whether it is canned peaches, pickles, garlic, or tomato sauce, or marbles, pennies, seashells or gumdrops, the items in jars add richness and piquancy to our lives, and keep vibrant a pre-technological vision of human existence…

In Maine, artists, farmers, and citizens cohabitate, celebrating both the natural bounty and the human industry that defines the state, and valuing preservation, sustainability, community-supported agriculture and the arts. The Jar Project thrives on the spirit of Maine, enabling artists who have lived or spent time in Maine to preserve and present their work in this most relevant medium.

from The Jar Project site

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

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Significant Jar of Marbles

JarofMarbles

I’ve briefly touched on the “Significant Objects” project (here) in my post about Joshua Glenn & Carol Hayes book: Taking Things Seriously, 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance.

A joint project by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker, “Significant Objects” is a sort of spin off from that book. Previously insignificant objects are given new meaning and increased monetary value, by virtue of having been written about in a story. The objects are then put up for sale on eBay. I bid on a cursed bottle, but (luckily for me) I lost.

Since then, I’ve been monitoring closely for significant packaging-related swag, but I haven’t really coveted any of the objects quite as much. Until now with this jar of marbles.

The weird thing is—as unappealing as some of this stuff is at first
glance—these stories do a great job at transforming your initial
repulsion into a desire to purchase. I was not instantly drawn to this reused Beechnut Baby Food jar and I don’t collect marbles, but after reading Ben Ehrenreich’s disturbing story about how this particular batch of marbles came to be contained in this jar, it has, for me, become a very desirable item.

I pull a marble from your skull each time we kiss. “Give it back,” you say, each time.

“Darling,” I say. “Baby,” I say. “No.”

I put the marble in my pocket. Later, I will hide it with the others. But not now, because now you’re watching. Now you’re getting mad. I knew you would, and now you’re doing it. You cross your arms. Your features droop. Not just your lips but your eyelids and ears and the cleft ball of your chin. All of it droops. I laugh at you. “Come here, Droopy,” I say, and I try to kiss you, but you pull away.

–Excerpt from Jar of Marbles by Ben Ehrenreich

Unfortunately with the bidding already up to $28.05 and with three more days to go before the auction ends, I don’t think I can compete for ownership of these marbles. Not when I’m paying out of a joint bank account. Even if I were willing to spend $50, $100, maybe even more on this super-significant jar of marbles—how on earth would I explain it to my significant other?

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

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Black Gold in a Jar

SOSblackGoldPack

Our friend, Tattfoo Tan—(who participated in the Value Pack show)—has lately been doing ecological art-projects involving compost and worm husbandry. Still dealing with the concept of value, “Black Gold” also is also a comment on packaging and even references the Piero Manzoni “Artist’s Waste” can—(that box vox wrote about: here).

Black Gold took the concept of Piero Manzoni into the 21st century by canning worm casting instead of artist's waste. By purchasing this artwork one is confronted the dilemma of using the compost as a plant fertilizer or not using it and maintain it status as a work of art? Piero also price his work weight based on the current value of gold (around $1.12 a gram in 1960) and coincidentally, compost is called Black Gold by gardener because of its value in improving garden soil.

In an undisclosed location, a secret cellar is in the process of brewing the most creative compost ever. The curing process will take a year long but the final results in pure gold. Black gold to be more precise. The special blended concoction is under the skillful hand and eyes of Master Composter Tattfoo. This limited edition 2009 vintage will be available in early spring 2010. Reserve your bottle now.

from TattfooTan.com

Note: Tattfoo appears In the lower right photo with children of the Parkchester After School Program in the Bronx. His boy-scout-style outfit is also part of the project. The “live animal” suitcase is Tattfoo’s portable worm bin.

(A worm-related song clip, after the fold…)

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6 Traffic Jams

I seldom use jams or jelly. Not because I don’t like them, but more because of blood sugar. Being diabetic, I just got into the habit of avoiding it. So it’s odd that I find myself expending energy (burning calories) over “Traffic Jams.” Or, to be more precise, the branding of jams with a “traffic jam” pun.

traffic-jam2Most of these brands cite the colors of traffic lights (red, amber and green) as justification for naming their jam(s) “Traffic.”

1. Interbrand’s Traffic Jam

In 2012, Interbrand created a pun-based, promotional branding project that they named “Traffic Jam.”

They designed an imaginary retail product which they gave to existing and potential clients as a promotional gift. They chose hot pepper, raspberry and marmalade flavors for their three “Traffic Jams” because the colors corresponded to the colors of a traffic light.

Given that the demand for artisanal products is greatest in cities, we saw the need for locavore prepared foods to be made as close to the end consumers as possible. The first batches created are in the three colors of the universal traffic light: green, amber and red. The clear jar lets the beauty of the jam come through without being cluttered with labeling or graphics. …

As we target clients and new business prospects, the response has been unanimously positive. The Traffic Jam message of how to make brands happen today is resonating as we are finding clients who received the product are more likely than others to contact us about new business—and even requests for more jam! …

Senior Creative Director: Craig Stout (Interbrand)
Senior Designer: Ben Sherwood (Interbrand)
Executive Creative Director: Chris Campbell (Interbrand)
Senior Designer: Ross Clugston (Interbrand)

After seeing this project, I wondered whether this pun (conflating “traffic jams” with fruit preserves) ever made it to retail. I found lots of Traffic Jams. I’ve organized what I’ve found into 6 sections.

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Tattfoo Tan’s New Earth MRE (meals ready to eat)

SOSmre

We went to Tattfoo Tan’s studio last night and learned how to make dehydrated kale chips. The healthful, do-it-yourself snack food was part of a larger project that Tan began more than a year ago.

In New Earth MRE, he salvaged discarded produce from grocery stores, which he prepared as meals and then dehydrated, storing them as do-it-yourself “meals, ready to eat” for later (emergency) use.

WasteFood

New Earth MRE also earned Tan a Core77 2013 award for food design.

Tan started the project over a year ago — before Hurricane Sandy helped prove his point by ravaging his borough.

He made the meals, which range from mashed potatoes and apple sauce to miso vegetable soup, with food waste discarded by grocery stores.

Many times, stores and restaurants will throw away vegetables that are still safe to eat because they either are irregular looking or require more work to prepare, Tan said.

“If you go to a lower income neighborhood, they would be on the shelf,” he said. “But just because sometimes those things are not considered good looking, higher end grocers would throw them out.”

Tan’s meals can be reconstituted easily by boiling water — some only taking 15 minutes — and can last up to a year, he said.

The ease of preparing dehydrated meals and their long shelf life makes them ideal for emergencies, he added.

–Nicholas Rizzi, DNAinfo New York

SOSmre9
In addition to being DIY and MRE, Tan’s project is also about “S.O.S” (sustainable organic stewardship)

(More photos and a video of the artist discussing the the project, after the fold…) [Read more…]

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