Monthly Statement:
September 2005
I have to admit I’m off to a slow start. I bought some groovy little collection baskets at the dollar store, and within a week I will get the suckers tacked to bulletin boards beneath screaming fluorescent green flyers that will solicit donations of soap remnants all over the art school where I work. I will also place them in the school dormitories, at the art center where my studio is, in the public spaces of the artists cooperative where I live, and anywhere else that will humor such an odd request. I’m about to embark on a furious email campaign to all of my friends, as well as to many of the faculty and staff of said art college where I work. I also will post a request on CraigsList and see if that produces any results. Mostly though, I’ve been advertising by word of mouth. A couple of my neighbors had several slivers idling in their soap dishes that I called their attention to. One had that oatmealy texture. A coworker offered me some microscopic shards--he’s a grad student, and, in the interest of economy, I suppose he needs to get his money’s worth outta each bar. Another neighbor who works as a nurse in a hospital was horrified to find a bar of soap (a notorious bacteria magnet) in one of the bathrooms there. When he heard of my project, he promised to retrieve it for me the next day, but by then it had been identified as a sterility hazard and undoubtedly met an untimely end. One of my continuing studies students at the community college where I teach offered me a lovely lime green remnant of glycerin soap. It looked positively lick-able, but I resisted the urge. My goal is to make a piece that is driven by color--the lovely pastel pinks, lemon and golden yellows, and soft greens that soap comes in seem to be fertile ground for such exploration. Proctor and Gamble’s Coast® is a pale blue color, if I recall correctly--a rare find in the soap spectrum. I will make that my brand for the year. I know there will be a lot of white, but I hope to convince my closest friends to make color the deciding factor in their choice of soap.

Part of the reason for my delay is a sense of conflict over my method of accumulation. When I applied for the project, I intended to collect as described above, but later got the divine inspiration to make a social action project out of it. I became intrigued with the idea of getting a manufacturer to donate soap that I would distribute to Buddhist and Christian monasteries and convents, the residents of which would be instructed to exchange old worn-down bars for new. I liked the idea of collecting the soap that had cleansed the worldly dirt from the bodies of spiritually pure beings—or at least 99 3⁄4% pure spiritual beings.

Then I got the idea of supplying the residents of local transitional homes, women’s shelters, and such with soap, and asking them to return the remnants as well. I would arrange to present a brief slide talk about my artwork at the center, so the folks there might get a better understanding of why some obsessive nutcase would want their worn out soap, and thus be more apt to provide it. Perhaps I’d even volunteer to do some type of art project with the residents. But Other Leading Brand, the originators of The Accumulation Project convinced me that the latter two ideas sound like a separate project--one worth doing, but let’s keep ‘em separate. I see their point.

So if you wanna send me your soap, email jillgreenberg27@hotmail.com and I will supply you with my address. Perhaps I’ll even send you a fresh bar in return every now and then!

Process: I will be accumulating remnants of used bars of soap by soliciting contributions through networks of friends and acquaintances. I am also looking into receiving donations through local hotels and collection boxes set up in various locales.