Inspiration from Unexpected Places: Why My Favorite Place on Nantucket Is the Dump

In this episode of Your Creative Midlife, I'm at my favorite place on Nantucket, which is not the beach. It's the Take It or Leave It shed at the Nantucket dump. know. Beautiful Nantucket, and I want to talk about the dump. 

But I have found some real treasures there, and I'm not the only one — ask anybody who goes and they'll tell you what they found. It's the things people are done with that are still perfectly good and should be passed along. Everything is free. I call it gifts of the sea. 

For a collage artist, it's a supply closet. I have used some of book illustrations in recent collages I made at the Artists Association of Nantucket. 

Here’s a summary of what I found recently:

• Traveling With the Birds (1933) 

• Fifty Famous Stories Retold · Grosset & Dunlap serials 

• The Silent Meow (1964) 

Sometimes I get a funny feeling that certain books are meant for me to find. This has happened more than once. This all goes to show that you can find artistic inspiration in unexpected places. 

Thanks so much, and happy searching. I hope you find something that makes you happy.

Links:

Take-It-or-Leave It Shed on Nantucket: https://www.nantucket-ma.gov/2072/Take-It-or-Leave-It 

Artists Association of Nantucket https://www.nantucketarts.org/ 

Suzanne Keating, Nantucket Astrologer https://www.pathwaysofthesoulack.com/