Saturday, May 18, 2013
Crochet my video
by Elizabeth Anderson
click to enlarge
Jerry Maguire. What About Bob? Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Indecent Proposal. The Muppet Show.
It's hard to imagine what those dated films and television shows could have in common.
In the hand of local artist Juanita Canzoneri, they're all part of the medium she has employed in her latest art series, Previously Viewed Bags.
Trying to do something creative and non-wasteful with her husband's dusty VHS assortment once he segued to DVDs, Canzoneri began constructing artsy handbags out of cassette tape. She's currently knitting the aforementioned movies and shows.
"They were bootleg," she says. "We couldn't sell them and didn't want to give them away ... I like being able to reuse something rather than throw it out."
So she constructed a test bag based on some online research, and her success has since led her not only to handbags, but to small clutch purses. Canzoneri designs each bag a little differently, using needlework, stitching and beading as well as affixing buttons, glass and fabric to glitz up the black tape.
"It's hard to describe. [They] look plastic," she says, noting that many people don't realize what they're looking at until she tells them.
The bags act as a utilitarian fashion statement for eco-friendly types. Canzoneri says they're quite durable, functional and, surprisingly, even machine-washable. Depending on the amount of decorations and size, each bag requires around nine hours to make. As a final touch, she includes a label detailing the video from which each bag was constructed.
Working with celluloid proved a departure for the 46-year-old Canzoneri, whose concentration lies in mosaic art. Operating out of her north-end home studio, she also teaches at Bemis School of Art and Full Spectrum Art Glass Supply & Gallery.
In Canzoneri's words, this new medium has turned into "a good physiological experiment" that promotes a cause for something that has lost its luster. The only question that remains as technology progresses: What will Canzoneri come up with if her husband converts from DVD to Blu-ray?
