I spent almost 10 years owning and operating several mobile home parks in NW Georgia. As fate would have it, at the age of 27, I ended up with a couple hundred really "rough" tenants.This , initially, was a shock to my system and caused me to rethink what I thought I knew about human beings. I had gotten myself stuck in a situation that I could not get out of. The problem was that I was supposed to be a white collar, real estate investor and my employees were supposed to do the work for me. So, for the first year and a half,I went through dozens of managers and maintenance people. The truth is that if you do not come from a "weekly rental" trailer park, "ain't noway" you're gonna work there! The trailers were very nasty and so were the tenants. Many of which, had violent tendencies! So, I burned about a year and a half up not doing very well and found myself sitting alone in a newly vacated managers office. It was then and there that I had my epiphany! (I love that word. It's actually too nice of a word to say inside one of these parks. You would keep it in your pocket so it wouldn't get dirty.) Anyway, it hit me all of a sudden. Over this time period, I had gotten to know the tenants very well....Due to all the arguing we had done! And, I realized that the skill sets I needed were all right there in front of me. I had several unemployed plumbers. I had many carpenters and painters, two guys that repaired lawn mowers,and even one preacher that had a talent for raising money for "needy"families. I had made the mistake , all this time, of judging them by their appearance. Thereby, never hiring anyone for anything! After realizing my mistake, I never sought help outside my parks. And, I made those parks mine for the first time. I ended up working there everyday,along side my tenants, for the next eight years. We became so proficient with our maintenance that ALL repairs were done within 48hrs and usually 24. I got a "life lesson" out of this experience that very few people truly understand. "All People Have Value"! You may not know what their talents are because you don't know them. But, odds are,they have something , if not, many things, they could teach us all. The greatest lesson was humility. I couldn't do it without them. These"them" became individuals.
By keeping the "labor pool" inside the parks, several things were accomplished. First, I kept the money, I would have spent anyway, in the pockets of my tenants. Second, it helped their self esteem and provided a job reference. Thirdly, they met their neighbors and began to talk out problems instead of "punching each other"!
As years went by, together, we honed this operation to the point that we were operating at 100% occupancy and 95% on the rent collected.(That is unheard of in the trailer park world!) Everyone became interconnected. It had become a village that functioned under the willpower of the inhabitants. The whole had become greater than the sum of it's parts!
Eventually, while fixing some pipes under a trailer, a guy in a suit from Atlanta showed up. Turns out, my accountant was the same for a wealthy real estate investment firm. The accountant had told them my story and about the success we were having. So, this chapter of my life came to an end with a big check from the investment firm and them telling me that they had never witnessed a better run operation in their 25 yr history.
So, here it is! I am no psychiatrist, but I think I am using found objects in my art because of that experience. I get the same "twinge"of pleasure putting the right piece in the right place that I did by discovering a talent in one of those tenants. Locating my recycled material puts me in pawn shops, thrift stores, yard sales, behind warehouses and in dumpsters. I am taking rusty pieces of nothing and putting them into a work of art that may end up in a gallery or a museum. I think , for me, it's about recognizing subtle value. The stuff that the consumer "zombies" will never appreciate. I'm in the "Resurrection" business! It took me a year and a half to see what God knew all along. And, I feel closer to God and more spiritual because of what I went through. This is why I Do What I Do! My shop is my church and I'm preaching salvation to found objects......Thanks for reading this......JL Thompson