Creative Reuse: Fall 2004

Lizland: Functional and Dysfunctional Art

by Sarah Weimer

Liz Mamorsky’s description of her creative reuse of materials as "functional and dysfunctional art" quickly captures the attention of anyone browsing her website.

Her "anthropomorphic and zoomorphic" sculpturing from reused materials is entirely self-taught and fairly recent—she began creating sculptures from reused materials in 1991. A life-long painter and drawer, Mamorsky picked up a glue gun and opened up a drawer of odds and ends she had been lugging around for 20 years and began putting the pieces together.

Mamorsky found making sculpture tremendously engaging and empowering. She had wanted to explore this art form for 20 years but didn’t know how to begin. Quickly learning that glue does not hold sculpture together, Mamorsky graduated to more efficient joining techniques such as screws, bolts, rings, and others.

Mamorsky does not weld since she works mainly with wood, circuit boards, and decorative metals. She spends a great deal of time browsing hardware stores for wonderful (even if sometimes untraditional) joining devices.

Finding solitude inspiring, Mamorsky prefers to work alone in her studio. She hires people on an as-needed basis for projects. Mamorsky has created sculpture, tables, lights, clocks, pendants, and menorahs over the years, working in series. She does not do production work—each piece is unique. Creating the work as the fancy strikes, Mamorsky continues until she has worked her way through that particular series. Often a new reusable material flows into her life, which sparks an idea. Usually at that point a new idea has cropped up, which she is eager to explore.

In addition to her website, Mamorsky promotes her work through gallery exhibitions as well as through charity auctions and shows in her studio. Museums and tour leaders often bring visitors and convention groups to her studio, which she enjoys since she meets people from all over the world. Some become collectors of her work and, as a result, her art lives in venues both nationally and internationally. Mamorsky also accepts commissions and requests for thematic shows.

Mamorsky’s work has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, AmericanStyle, and MASH Magazine, as well as on KPIX Channel 5’s "Evening Magazine," HGTV’s "Lofty Ideas," and KRON TV’s "Daybreak.'

Mamorsky primarily employs surplus electronic materials that have been donated by engineers, but she also uses many wooden foundry patterns, mainly from the maritime industry (for example, the now-defunct Bethlehem Shipyards and the Mare Island Naval Shipyards). She also has obtained materials from American Can Co. and a foundry that produced pump patterns and parts.

Trying to recall the most unusual materials she’s ever used is difficult. Mamorsky has used such diverse materials over the years, and just when she thinks she’s seen it all, something new and wonderful turns up. She loves dismantling machines and is constantly surprised by the treasures within.

One of her favorite machines was a Techtronics oscilloscope. This is one of the cleanest machines inside, even though it was very old. Mamorsky found the circuit boards to be amazingly beautiful, filled with elegant gold circuits and exquisite resistors and capacitors. Some of the boards had curved tops, which reminded her of the windows at Chartres—beautiful jewel-like boards, which she used sparingly and prominently in several pieces.

In addition to the foundry patterns, Mamorsky enjoys using old circuit boards. To her, they are the most beautiful because they are filled with chunky resistors, capacitors, and other gadgets that are missing in the new sleek microchip boards.

Mamorsky likes hard drives because they contain wonderful components; their copper coil electromagnets are particularly great for eyes and mouths. She is also fond of Intel’s gorgeous golden CPUs and feels the old Pentium chip is especially elegant.

Mamorsky also obtains her materials through her wonderful "picker," John Crowley, who discovers amazing surplus for her. Just when she thinks he has outdone himself, he appears with something even more amazing. He finds treasures all over the place—sometimes right on the street.

Once Crowley brought her buckets of jewelry that had been scrapped, which led to a series of jewel-encrusted masklike frames for her bark drawings. Mamorsky says she has also been known to do her share of dumpster diving. In addition, she has found that Goodwill and Salvation Army are wonderful places to browse for the odd wooden pieces and children’s shoes, which often find their way into her sculpture.

Her studio is stocked to the rafters with reusable materials—enough to last a lifetime. As a result, Mamorsky has become very selective lately since she doesn’t have much more storage space.

The length of time Mamorsky spends on a sculpture depends on the size. The large, elaborate, lit-up pieces take months to develop. This includes all the prep work like sanding, staining, and clear-coating the components. She is meticulous about the cleanliness and tactility of each piece.

Mamorsky explains that like pets, her sculptures feel good to the touch. Rather than sketching out her ideas in advance, she works intuitively, adding and deleting materials as the work progresses. People of all ages who have a healthy sense of humor and fun—and who enjoy life—purchase her sculptures.

Contact:
Lizland
739 Clementina Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
liz@lizland.com
(415) 863-1047
www.lizland.com
Open by appointment, Monday through Saturday

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Last updated: February 27, 2008