The Story Behind It
People always ask me, 'Who are these people? Is that Lincoln? Are they famous?' I think the reason that most people think that they are famous is because they have never or rarely ever seen any photos that are that old. I guess it does seem kind of strange, when you walk into an art gallery full of these people, but all of this just fell into place for me. It makes sense.
 
Last year around this time (May 2006) I was out for a jog. It was my normal routine in the morning. But on this particular day I stopped a little early. I don't really remember why but I wasn't even half way through my route.
It was trash day. And as I walked, I looked down to see two very old photo albums. One of them was red velvet with metal clasps, very fancy. I stopped and picked one up and opened it. It was full of pictures. The first thought that came to my mind was that my mom would really love these.
So I grabbed both of them and started walking again. I didn't want anyone to see me taking stuff from their trash, so I was walking at an accelerated pace. By the time I was halfway home I was running. I can only imagine how crazy I must have looked running with these two huge antique photo albums under my arms.

When I got home I kept flipping back and forth through these albums and I couldn't believe it. I was touched. Stunned that someone would just toss these out to become part of a landfill. Not only were they antiques, but all these people were also apart of someone's family.

I felt very connected to these people, almost like I had been there and seen their time. Their time on earth seemed like only a short instant to me. I could almost feel and sense all the emotions they must have gone through, much the same as we do. And this was all that was left of them. These old photos. It moved me. Just think, someday we will all be thrown out to waste, just ink on a piece of paper.

I knew I wanted to use them for an art project, but I didn't know what I was going to do, and I didn't think that I would still be doing it over a year, and two hundred pieces later.



























Finding Our Voices: recent ceramic works by Chris Singewald, Sarah German, and Tyler Speicher
January 15 - March 1, 2008
Opening Reception - January 19, 6-8pm
Side Gallery

After graduating from the University of Northern Iowa in 2006, these three ceramic artists have spent the last year in exploration to find their individual creative voices.

www.sarahgermanceramics.com
www.geocities.com/tylerspeicher