"Repurposed"... I have repurposed items all of my life. Sometimes as art, but most of the time it is to re-use an item that solves a problem... or helps to simplify a chore... or to organize things in life. I think that every artist is an inventor of sorts. We all see things in our minds...then do what we can to create it. The item that I am entering into the "Repurposed" show, is a little different from a piece of art to display or wear, but it is still art related. It is... Ta da!... my handy dandy "Mobile Mat Board Center." Wait... hear me out! I do all the framing of my paintings which means a lot of mats lying around. I acquired 20 32x40 steeply discounted mat boards from a nearby art supply store that sadly was closing and had no idea how I was going to store them. My studio is in my basement, so they could not lay flat on the floor and I wanted them completely out of my way until needed. I happened to come across a metal garment rack that a neighbor was throwing out and immediately saw my solution. The mat boards came in two huge boxes measuring 42x34 that just happened to sit on top of the feet of the rack. I then collected smaller boxes to hold various sizes of pre-cut mats that would hang from the top part of the rack over the large boxes. I secured pant hangers to the small boxes with pipe cleaners, painted them white and decorated each box with ribbons for color. Each box holds different sizes and can be easily removed from the rack and taken to my work space as needed. I used a discarded piece of foam board to make a shelf on top of the rack to hold more supplies. There is a wire hanger on the side to hold my portfolio when not in use. So... in a space of 42"x66"x24"... I can now store aproximately 350 pre-cut mats and 160 - 32x40 mat boards and it's all upright and on wheels making it easy to move about in my limited work space. Creation in motion!