Monthly Statement:
October 2005
It's been a month of interesting developments at soap central. I can't say that I've gone about all of the collection methods described in my September statement, namely posting flyers and leaving collection baskets, but I'm getting to these tasks now. As a result of fellow accumulator Eric's request for AOL disks in a notice posted on Craigslist that linked up with the Accumulation Project website, on which I posted my email address, I got three interesting emails. Well, actually the first one had nothing to do with the notice in Craigslist. Rather, it was from Jennifer in NJ who is a friend of the project organizers. She kindly agreed to do a little collecting for me. I anxiously await receipt of her offerings. Then I got an email from a charming Craigslist surfer and student at Sam Houston State named Wes, who uses pink Dove soap, and was delighted when I told him that I had not collected any soap of that color yet, so he'd have the distinction of being the first pink donor. I haven't heard back from him yet, but I have since finished a bar of my own pink soap, and I feel kinda bad for usurping his honor. I'll email him again and see how it's going with the pink Doves of Texas. Actually, I appreciate Wes's offer even more in light of the fact that many other Dove users have made the lazy excuse that Dove "…turns into a blob of goo at the end," when I mentioned the project to them, asking them to contribute. But Wes knows that a couple of days in the Texas heat will turn that goo back into a respectable soap remnant.

But truly the most unusual response to Eric's posting on Craigslist came from Jeffrey, a Deputy Sheriff who works in the Milwaukee County Jail, who said: "Lots of used soap would be really putting it mildly, at any one time we have about 900 people in custody." In a subsequent email responding to some questions I asked, he replied: "As actual practice is here, Inmates are to use 1/2 bar of (hotel-sized) soap until gone. In reality they use 1/2 bar soap every shower and then just toss it on the floor. I had my trustees in my 64 man housing unit pick up about a one gallon pail worth of white discards today(about three days worth, we have 16 units)." So prison soap is white, but abundant and available. I have not yet received any from Jeffrey, but when it does come in, I will definitely reconsider my original idea of having color be the most important aspect of my final composition. Sounds like pattern might become the dominating principle instead.

What I'm really enjoying about this project so far is its unpredictability (such as the offers of soap from strangers and Deputy Sheriffs.) I cannot control what people offer me and ultimately I will have to alter my original vision to encompass the materials that come my way. This fits the image I have of my artistic process perfectly. I've always been a gleaner.

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.