A House is NOT a Home

A House is NOT a HOME
My hectic childhood consisted of constant change... my family moved from place to place, in fact I moved 13 times before the 5th grade. There is no easy answer as to why...my parents were not in the military just the circumstances of life drove our transient existence. In turn, I have never had the traditional view of "home", home for me is not a building...I do not have any memories deeply attached to a wall where my height was recorded or the feel of the carpet beneath my toes. Rather, my "home" transends the stationary limitations and travels with me wherever I go. For me it is rather a feeling, a warm sense of comfort and belonging...of tradition and love. It didn't matter where we were (my family) as long as we had each other we were "home." Now I am on my own, my family lives in another state and I have to adjust by creating another "home" for myself as an adult. I love the idea of exploring the idea of home and what it means so my project will focus on this concept.

What I brought to class:

To represent places I have lived...
*Sunmaid California raisin boxes

*A picture of a beach sunset

*An Iowa postcard (where I am originally from)

*A photo taken at the lake behind my grandfathers house in Iowa

To represent "home" in general...

*A doorknob
*Keys
*A lightswitch
*An art print of a house floating via a hot air balloon
*A portrait of my family

Additions:

*More found photos of families doing typical family activities such as serving/eating dinner at the kitchen table..playing games...etc. Only I was absolutely INSPIRED by Baldessari's work with found photos and I want to replace the faces in the photos I use with color? or perhaps what inspires me more is to replace the heads with those of animals in a collage type fashion.

* Perhaps I should add more objects that are indicative of a home.... welcome mat? Suggestions PLEASE on what should be included...

I Would love for my final project to be very similar to a dollhouse where there is a house front and then its open in the back so you can see inside the house..only for the house to be crumbling or deteriorating somehow...then inside are the altered photos of the families and home objects such as the doorknob and keys...I think it would be best for all the home objects to be painted all the same neutral color (white?)..

IM EXCITED I feel like I have a good idea but some narrowing and focus is in order! :)