I'm a yankee transplant here in Charleston, SC, actually on James island. I would kill for some good junk shops, craft shops with unusual stuff, a decent flea market-the one here is mostly new "fakes" stuff and cheap novelty crap. I see all kinds of great shops in magazines and wish they could be here. The antique stores here are high-class, catering to tourists and rich summer-birds with big homes on Kiawah, etc. I also need like  minds, people who don't think Precious Moments are cute and worth shelf space. On my walls I have rusty iron scraps, gargoyles, a print of Mona Lisa cut in half and put into 2 frames, silver forks bent and used as hooks, etc. People here think art is yet another painting of Rainbow Row...

Welcome to South Carolina.

I'm a Calfornia transplant living for the last 30 + years in the upstate next to the mountains, but can seriously relate to what you say about Charleston shops and stuff. I like what they have...in their shops, but not my home.

You'd fit right in up here...and your walls would fit right in my house. I could see my son taking Mona, splitting her into several pieces and making a grunge sort of montage from her. (blasphemy..right? Not with my son.)

If you have a chance to travel to Raleigh, NC on a weekend there is a fabulous Flea Market at the Fair Ground open every weekend except during fair season. You'll find there a lot of what you are interested in at every price range you can imagine.

I have always looked at things and thought "what can I do to or with this? What other use does it have besides what it was originally meant for?" I have pens in flower pots, kitchen utensils in a flour container, embellishments in old silverware drawer trays, etc. I love 50's kitchen stuff- the red plastic cannisters, glass refrigerator dishes, etc and use them in my kitchen every day. Ball canning jars hold buttons, brads, paper clips, beads, etc- useful and colorful on shelves. Even storage needs to be artful and pleasing to the eye. I would love to come to Raleigh- do the flea market and maybe find my wayward husband who is there now with his girlfriend- I found his myspace page and the fool listed Raleigh as his locale. Ever run across a guitar playing carpenter going by the name Sedgwic, let me know. Grrr... thanx for bending your ear. 

Boy, can I relate to what you're saying, Saqqara... "I would kill for some good junk shops, craft shops with unusual stuff, a decent flea market-the one here is mostly new "fakes" stuff and cheap novelty crap. I see all kinds of great shops in magazines and wish they could be here. The antique stores here are high-class, catering to tourists and rich summer-birds with big homes on Kiawah, etc. I also need like  minds, people who don't think Precious Moments are cute and worth shelf space. On my walls I have rusty iron scraps, gargoyles, a print of Mona Lisa cut in half and put into 2 frames, silver forks bent and used as hooks, etc. People here think art is yet another painting of Rainbow Row...".  Here in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada we have alot of younger, oilfield people that aren't exactly keen on anything minutely different than your average 'painting to match your sofa' way of thinking. I'll never forget a number of years ago when we lived in a small town near here that a woman I knew exclaimed about my work, "My, I didn't know that your husband's name was Art".  Now, how do you reply to that in a pleasant way? 

As to looking at things and figuring out how it might be used in artful ways - that's a favorite of mine, also.  That's why I like thrift stores for old/used boxes, sculpture, jewelry, you name it and bring it home as a new treasure to be altered in some way.  You take a used box, add paper and other odds and ends (beads, buttons, mirrors, words, etc.) add some legs (long, short, wood, metal) and you have an incredible work of art (and no, not my husband!) So, while we might not be able to change where we are and its' limitations, perhaps Artella friends can provide us with new inspiration, new ideas, new ways of looking at things.  And.......sorry about your wayward husband.  What a rotten thing to deal with.  Best of luck.

Chameleon

Typically we get to Raleigh every 6 weeks or so to vist my Handyman's kids (no his name's not Sedgwick...but...I'll keep an eye and ear open). It's been too blasted hot to go to the flea market so I reckon it'll be well into fall or early winter before we do. I can spend hours just poking into and around all the boxes, bins and piles of stuff even if I never buy a thing.

I love repurposing things...my Handyman teases me all the time that I never throw anything away. Unfortunately, the basement gives blatant testament to the truth of his statement.

Come up to the piedmont of SC sometime...there are scads of the kind of "antique" shops I think you'd be interested in.

 Love your quote, Outlaw!  We joke to our kids (they're grown-up, but still 'kids') that there won't be an inheritance of any kind.......I believe any monies will be spent on art supplies and travel for hubby and me.

Chameleon