Skip to main content
BOOK YOUR TRIP
  • SEE & DO
    • Arts
    • Attractions
    • Health & Wellness
    • Live Music
    • Shopping
      • Online Shopping
    • Downtown
    • Greater Region
    • Winter Travel
  • Outdoors
    • Cold Weather
      • Cross-Country Skiing
      • Downhill Skiing
      • Ice Fishing
      • Snowmobiling
      • Snowshoeing
    • Warm Weather
      • Birding
      • Boating
      • Cycling
      • Fishing
      • Golfing
      • Mt Biking
      • Paddling
    • Adirondack Guides & Tours
    • Parks & Trails
    • Hiking
    • Saranac Lake 6er
    • St. Regis Canoe Area
  • EAT & DRINK
    • Craft Beer and Cocktails
    • Restaurants
  • EVENTS
    • First Night Saranac Lake
    • Winter Carnival
    • Adirondack Snowshoe Fest
    • Celebrate Paddling Adk
    • 3rd Thursday Art Walks
    • Can-Am Rugby Tournament
    • Plein Air Festival
  • STAY
    • Resorts, Hotels, Motels
    • Inns, Lodges, Bed & Breakfasts
    • Vacation Rentals
    • Camping
  • Stories
  • Living Here
    • Fall Foliage Report
    • Getting Here
    • History of Saranac Lake
    • News
    • Professional Services
    • Real Estate
    • Saranac Lake Initiatives
      • Arts and Culture Master Plan
      • Downtown Revitalization Grant
    • Saranac Lake Brand
    • Weddings
Some assembly required
There's More To Explore
We’ve got the best ideas for things to do on your next Adirondack adventure, and we will deliver them right to your inbox! Thanks For Subscribing! Your next adventure awaits you in your inbox! Tell us more about what interests you, and we can help you plan your next trip.
MANAGE YOUR PREFERENCES
  • Previous Article
  • Next Article
Wonderful Weddings in Cool Places
The coolest paddling routes
Apr
13
2016

Assemblage: A work of art made by grouping found or unrelated objects.

By themselves, those objects are just discarded human possessions. They turn up along railroad tracks, deep in the wilderness, and behind construction sites. Moss-covered, half-buried, and forgotten, they've been left to rot and rust and decay in the Adirondack soil. They're everywhere, and most people don't want them.

But artist Anastasia Osolin isn't most people. In her hands, the artifacts become something different, something that probably wasn't intended by whoever manufactured them. The finished pieces are intrinsically Adirondack — the ingredients were found here, after all — but their presence is conspicuous in a scene that's rife with nature paintings. 

"Adirondack art makes it all look like a very idyllic and pristine wilderness," Anastasia said. "I've come across a few old dumps in the woods, out in the Paul Smiths area, where people probably used to dump their household trash 100 years ago. Things like old antique glass bottles, metal cans, buckets and that kind of thing. I've found no less than three rusted out mattresses in the Adirondacks. I now have a big collection of rusty mattress springs."

Every good recipe requires the right ingredients.

Anastasia's assemblages marry seemingly unrelated parts — things like gaskets, doll heads, and watch gears — into three-dimensional expressions of curiosity, astronomy, fantasy, and reflections on human nature.

In one piece, the phrase "An Unreliable Machine" appears beneath a textbook-style depiction of a profile of a man's head. Inside the cranium are gears — not drawings of gears, but real gears — that can properly function together or cause problems for the entire machine if bent out of shape.

An Unreliable Machine.

That's the beauty of the assemblages. They inspire imagination, they demand conversation, and there's probably no absolutely correct way to interpret them. The text that appears on most of her work, which comes from places like 19th century fashion magazines and science textbooks, seems to simultaneously clarify and further add to the mystery of the piece.

Anastasia has been creating these curiosities for 20 years. They're a departure from her artistic roots doing illustrations, or perhaps they're an evolution of that pursuit. As a painter, she was drawn to surrealist and Dadaist works, and to assemblage artist Joseph Cornell.

"I've always been interested in collecting odd, miscellaneous things and images," Anastasia said. "I love going to flea markets and yard sales, and what I call low-end antique stores. I just started putting all of these things together."

An/other Life.

Inside her home studio there are shelves littered with an assortment of other oddities and unfinished pieces, some of which have been there for years. A life-sized baby's arm that used to belong to a doll protrudes from a basket; there's a pair of disc brakes on the floor.

Anastasia explains that a set of labeled drawers is an attempt to organize the various objects she's collected. The labels say things like flat things, round things, more round things, and bones, feathers, mica, shells.

The drawers open, the shelves clear, and the miscellaneous objects slowly find each other, like eclectic magnets. Parts are added and subtracted to a piece until it feels right.

"Sometimes I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to make and the kinds of things I need to fill it out, but usually I start shuffling things around," Anastasia said. "Occasionally it's serendipity. My studio, when I'm working, gets to be a real mess. There's stuff everywhere, and I'm just throwing stuff around, and on occasion something will land on something else and I'll think, 'Hey, those things look cool together.'"

Anastasia Osolin works on an assemblage in her Saranac Lake studio.

On the worktable there's a serious-looking doll's head mounted atop a body wearing a tiny, pressed dress. The doll is framed by a substance that looks white and fluffy, but probably isn't. She resides in a wooden box, her legs crossed as if waiting for something to enter.

Anastasia fiddled with a gear from a watch while she contemplated where to position the item. There seems to be a strange yet profound balance inherent in this process — many of the components must be forced from whatever object they're a part of, but their final placement isn't forced. Rather, they must wander the earth like milkweed fluff, coming to rest where the wind delivers them. In this way the assemblages will all come together eventually, in their own time, in their own way.

"I feel like the more of these things I have, the more I feel like I have to finish these things before I die," Anastasia said with a laugh. "If not, what's anybody going to do with them?"

Anastasia's work will be on display at the Adirondack Artists' Guild in Saranac Lake starting in May. She also has a show at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts next January and at The View in Old Forge next April.

Saranac Lake is a hot spot for the arts. Check out the events calendar to find out what's coming up, or simply head out on the town. You're sure to find some kind of cool art or music going on!


This week in related ADK discoveries:

Caching it in

Take me home

Where glass and art collide

The peace trail

Coastal treasure hunting

Unexpected things - in threes!

Hunting down history

  • Log in to post comments
Author:Shaun Kittle
Categories:Exhibits, Cultural, Arts
  • Previous Article
  • Next Article
Wonderful Weddings in Cool Places
The coolest paddling routes

Newsletter Signup

Upcoming Events

Paul Smith's College VIC - What to Know
Friday, March 5th, 2021
The nature trails at the Paul Smith's VIC are open dawn to dusk for snowshoeing, hiking, and xc skiing. Please remain socially distant.  Cross-country Ski and Snowshoe Center Take...
Winter Forest Bathing
Friday, March 5th, 2021
This winter, we invite you on a unique getaway into the amazing beauty of our Adirondack winter wonderland. Let us guide you on outdoor experiences that foster your sense of tranquility, build your...
  • Load more

Recent Blog Posts...

The Gift of the Maple Tree
Friday, February 26th, 2021
If you ask me, the maple tree is rather wonderful. In fall, the astonishing change of color from vivid green leaves to shades of yellow, red, and orange light up the Adirondacks to the awe of...
Ampersand in Winter
Tuesday, February 16th, 2021
Ampersand Mountain is a wonderful peak that sits about 8 miles south of the village of Saranac Lake, off Route 3 going toward Tupper Lake. While the trail is wildly popular in the summer, a...
  • Load more
Earn Your Patch There’s an adventurous spirit in all of us. In Saranac Lake, you can answer that call by becoming a Saranac Lake 6er.
Learn More
Unplug Outdoors The mountains, rivers, and lakes bordering Saranac Lake aren’t just for show, and those boots on everyone’s feet aren’t a bold new fashion statement.
Learn More
Enter to Win Sample Saranac Lake with this getaway package. Enter now!
Learn More
Connect with us...
e-newsletter sign-up...
Travel Questions?
(518) 891-1990
Saranac Lake Welcome Center
39 Main Street
Contact Us • Privacy Policy
Powered by the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism