GOURMET: "K-I-T-C-H-E-N"

Valerie Champagne

Wooden letter blocks, brush markers

For this month's challenge, my original thought was to paint a set of alphabet blocks for my niece and nephew with pictures of food to correspond with each letter.  When I couldn't find any wooden blocks, I bought wooden letters instead and painted foods to match the letters in K-I-T-C-H-E-N.  K=ketchup, I=ice cream, T=tea, C=carrots, H=honey, E=eggplant, and N=nuts.  Now that the letters are hanging in my kitchen, if the stove, refrigerator, and sink aren't a dead giveaway as to which room you're in.... the sign should be.

MACHINE: "MTA Monster!"

"MTA Monster!"

Valerie Champagne

Cardboard, Spray paint, Acrylic paint, Electrical tape

As I was feeding my monthly $104 tribute to a ravenous MTA machine last month, I was struck by how much the machine reminds me of my home shredder - so much goes in, so little comes out.  I was inspired to transform my home shredder into an embodiment of the MTA Machine Monster which haunts the dreams of so many impoverished subway commuters.  The Monster was assembled from recycled cardboard, and there is an opening for money to be fed directly into its mouth.  Yes, the shredder still works!    

LOST: "Lost"

Valerie Champagne
12"x 12'
Glass, Concrete

For the "Lost" theme, I decided to pay tribute to the wildly popular sci-fi TV drama, "Lost", by making my first-ever stepping stone. The rather abstract glass mosaic is of the tree-covered island where the plane crash survivors become stranded, and the mosaic is framed by a pattern of Hurley's infamous lottery ticket numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. I chose a concrete stepping stone as my medium because, well, if there are stepping stones leading the way, then you don't really have to worry about getting lost. :)