CUTE TOES

NAME: Gabriella

LOCATION: Winston-Salem, NC

EGGPLANT QUOTE: has cute toes

COMMENTS: Gabby was a second grade student of mine some years ago. At that time, I nicknamed her "Gabby-Toes" and so this seemed like the most appropriate eggplant for her.

BECAUSE FALCONS LIKE EGGPLANTS TOO

NAME: Analea Maria

LOCATION: Northville, MI

EGGPLANT QUOTE: shoot meatballs to their pet falcon

COMMENTS: I work in Solid Grounds Coffeehouse in Northville, MI. I just became the owner of a stray eggplant that reads- "shoot meatballs to their pet falcon." I am so happy to own my very own eggplant! Keep it up!

EGGPLANT HEROICALLY SAVES PRINCESS

NAME: Gigi Coddington

LOCATION: Carlsbad, California

EGGPLANT QUOTE: don't throw a mental

COMMENTS: My daugther Quinny concieved the idea for the eggplant on her own :)...The eggplant will save you, Princess! As to how I obtained my eggplant...My friend Mark has an artomat in his office and I purchased it last Thursday. Thanks so much for my eggplant. Now if I can only get back from Quinny!

AN EGGPLANT BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER

OWNER'S NAME: Herbert Hoover & Koren Gaines

LOCATION: New York, New York

EGGPLANT QUOTE: you'll shoot your eye out

COMMENTS: In 2007, I received an eggplant owner's gallery submission from New York artist, Herbert Hoover, who had purchased it from the Art*o*mat machine at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (Herb's also an Arto*artist who makes art for Art*o*mat). See that post here. Indeed, an eggplant had brought us together.

At that time, we decided to do an art swap. I made him a custom eggplant that says "pewter junk food," a description of his American Snack Food Icon sculptures (visit his amazing on-line shop at www.potus31.com). In exchange, he sent me one of his celebrated pewter crackers. See the post about the swap here.

In November 2009, William and I visited New York City and arranged a meeting with Herb and his wife, Koren. We had a wonderful visit at a diner in Manhattan. He brought us one of his brand new items: a pewter lolly pop, which I'm holding in the photo by William below. They also brought the pewter junk food eggplant along for the photo op.

When we returned home, I sent them one of my limited edition eggplant Christmas ornaments with the quote "you'll shoot your eye out," because I know Herb to be a movie buff and this comes from the movie "A Christmas Story." To my surprise, not only did they get the reference, they had their very own leg lamp! So in the photo at the top of this post, you can see the ornament with the lamp—a true Christmas Story installation.

We do so love it when eggplants allow us to meet cool people like Herb and Koren. May the eggplants continue to fill our world with fabulous folks!

A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

NAME: Elizabeth

LOCATION: Columbia, South Carolina

EGGPLANT QUOTE: o by golly

COMMENTS: "I just returned home and I rec'd a surprise package from you complete with Christmas tidings of JOY! As you can see I put it right on the tree. I lOVE your eggplants and not a day goes by that I don't look at them...I have also sent a picture of my dog, Weezie, (who no longer eats corn on the cob due to lack of teeth... but it was fun while it lasted, she says). THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours!"

See Lizzie's other eggplant pics here and here.

WHO DO YOU WANT ANSWERING YOUR EGGPLANT AT 3 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING?

OWNER'S NAME: Marisa

LOCATION: Lincoln, Nebraska

EGGPLANT QUOTE: three o'clock in the morning

COMMENTS: "I recently purchased your Art-O-Mat piece in the 2008 Election Series from the machine located in the Ross Theater of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.  I am a freshman in Art Education at the University and am looking into being involved in the Art-O-Mat program.  Attached is a photo of me with your work.  Thanks for the great piece and have a wonderful day!"

EGGPLANTS MAKE GREAT SINGING COMPANIONS

OWNER'S NAME: Kari

LOCATION: Boise, Idaho

EGGPLANT QUOTE: keep on singing loudly

COMMENTS: "It likes to sing with me."

SCHNAUZER FINDS GOOD LUCK WITH EGGPLANT

OWNER'S NAME: Courtney

LOCATION: Lansing, Michigan

EGGPLANT QUOTE: jolly good luck to you!

COMMENTS: "This is my mini schnauzer, Peyton, with the eggplant!  My family is very Irish, so I have shamrock things all over my apartment...what a great eggplant saying!  Thank you so much!"

EGGPLANTS IN THE WHITNEY? YOU BETCHA!

OWNER'S NAME: Erin Snook

LOCATION: Detroit, Michigan

EGGPLANT QUOTE: you betcha

COMMENTS: "So, I got an Eggplant out of the Art O Mat at the Whitney in NYC. This photo is of me outside the museum right after my first thrilling Art O Mat experience. Thanks --- what a cool little piece of art!"

NOTE: Erin's eggplant is part of the limited edition "election 08" series. 

THE EGGPLANT WHO'S BEEN ON TV

OWNER'S NAME: John Firestone

LOCATION: Pennsylvania

EGGPLANT QUOTE: those blabber mouths

COMMENTS: John Firestone's website, www.johnfirestone.com, features his personal art collection. In this collection, is his stray eggplant (pictured above). The ironic thing is that this eggplant was seen on the Rachel Ray Show. A special feature was done about Art*o*mat machines. See the clip below. At the end, the camera pans across the top of the machine and if you look carefully, you can see that there is an eggplant that says "those blabber mouths." Since each eggplant is one-of-a-kind, John's eggplant is the very one seen on TV! How he got this eggplant, I don't know but it is definitely a famous one.

Read John Firestone's blog about the fame of his eggplant.

100th EGGPLANT GALLERY POST

OWNER'S NAME: Bill

LOCATION: New Orleans, Louisiana

EGGPLANT QUOTE: resilience & friends

COMMENTS: This is the 100th eggplant owner to submit a photograph for the eggplant owner's gallery. I must say that I am quite proud of this wonderful collection of unique and delightful people from around the world with their eggplants! Please keep sending in your photos to keep this project growing.

A TECHNICOLOR SHOT OF AN OUT-OF-CONTROL SCULPTURE & HOW EGGPLANTS BROUGHT 2 ARTISTS TOGETHER

OWNER'S NAME: Talleen Hacikyan

LOCATION: Montreal, Canada

EGGPLANT QUOTE: forces beyond their control

COMMENTS: 
In August 2008, Talleen wrote a blog post entitled Ode to the Aubergine, which, by the way, is her most popular posting. In it, she writes of eggplants in art and sites examples from greats the likes of Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse and showed their paintings with eggplants. Then, to my surprise, she goes on to mention my Stray Eggplant project. I found this on an internet search, which I do from time to time just looking to see if there are any unreported pictures of my eggplants out there. 

Well, I was delighted to find Talleen's post and decided that anyone who put me in the good company of Cezanne and Matisse deserved their own eggplant.  So I read Talleen's artist statement and with this in mind, I made her an eggplant that says "forces beyond their control."

Here is what she writes about her eggplant:

"These days I’m always on the lookout for little projects for a quick creativity fix. The eggplant photo turned out to be a fun activity that I managed to work on while supper was simmering on the stovetop, which may explain why I photographed my eggplant against the kitchen cupboard.

"Although the photo was staged and shot within twenty minutes, the creative process took place mentally beforehand. Over the days preceding the photo, my family and I were watching the 1956 version of The Ten Commandments. I say days because the film lasts three and a half hours. This movie is filmed in Technicolor, and features mise en scènes that cry, 'Studio scene!' and others that are obviously filmed in the great outdoors of Egypt and the Sinai. I love the studio scenes. When Moses’ birth mother sends him in his basket down the Nile I could practically feel the plastic reeds and smell the chlorinated water. The quality of light in these artificially staged scenes is unique. The actors are drenched in floodlights–there isn’t a shadow in sight. It’s always high noon in these scenes! What I like best about this film is its theatrical quality and this is the atmosphere I wanted to create in my photo.

"I suspended my eggplant with nylon thread from a branch. It kept twirling and capturing the writing proved to be a challenge. To deal with these forces beyond my control, I used a trick my son taught me. This consisted of depressing the shutter button halfway and keeping it that way until I want to snap the photo, at which point I pressed it all the way down.

"I am keeping [my eggplant] in my studio as a reminder that sometimes the forces beyond our control bring unexpected, wonderful surprises, in the mail and otherwise! Thank you Laura Gentry."

Read her whole blog about this

Ah, an eggplant brings more artists together! 

DIFFICULT, SHE IS

OWNER'S NAME: Lelia

LOCATION: Chicago, Illinois

EGGPLANT QUOTE: how difficult I am

COMMENTS:  "My husband & I visited the Cultural Center in Chicago, IL (last month) & I selected one of your eggplants. I’ve attached a photo. I didn’t include ‘picture of yourself’ because I’ve had a terrible flu bug – don’t want to frighten people!!! I hope to get an image up on my facebook, too. Keep them coming!!! I don’t know how you continue to come up with all the sayings – but they are just great : )"

BLOG: 

http://lelia-stitchesoflife.blogspot.com

CONCEPTUAL ART MEETS VEGETARIAN COOKBOOK

OWNER'S NAME: Daniel

LOCATION: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

EGGPLANT QUOTE: totally heavy eighties licks

COMMENTS: "It's Barbara Kruger meets Mollie Katzen."

Read Daniel's blog about his encounter with the Art*o*mat machine here.

MUST BE DEALT WITH

OWNER'S NAME: Angela

LOCATION: Greenbrier, Tennessee

EGGPLANT QUOTE: deal with me

COMMENTS: Angela ordered her eggplant from the Gentry Joint Store and since I was out of stock, she had to wait a bit to receive her eggplant. When she did, she wrote this to me:

"Hey, I wanted to write you and tell you that I got the Eggplant and the wait was SO worth it. You could have not picked a better saying "Deal With Me". I LOVE IT!!!!! So here is a picture of me with my eggplant so that you can add it to your gallery. I'm a 30 year old full time college student, wife, mother, and a published scrapbook artist. So thanks so much and again. I LOVE IT!!!!!:

MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/scrapydiva

OH SO RANDOM

OWNER'S NAME: Xander

LOCATION: Nagasaki, Japan

EGGPLANT QUOTE: random things will happen

COMMENTS: "I'm sending you the best two pictures of me with my AMAZING eggplant, that I actually lugged through Japan as my lucky charm when I traveled. I wanted to make sure I got the best picture/circumstance for it! Here's an explanation below:

"These pictures was taken at Asakusa temple in Tokyo, Japan. The temple is flocked with thousands of Japanese and foreign people around this time, eager to pray for the new year. It was an amazing experience to be there at that time, but the story gets better! I lived on the southern island of Kyuushuu, in the city of Nagasaki. Starting from Nagasaki, five friends and I broke up into three groups of two and raced by hitchhike to get to Tokyo by New Year's. My partner and I were the first ones there, and it took us one day and eight hours of straight hitchhiking. This was one of the greatest experiences I've had in my life, and it made it all the more sweeter to be able to take out my lucky charm and snap these photos, random things really do happen!

"Now the eggplant is sitting here on my desk, next to some amazing photos of fantastic friends and unforgettable experiences! :) I think it's itching to travel again just as much as I am!"

A MOMENT IS ENJOYED

OWNER'S NAME: Liz

LOCATION: New York City (The photo was taken at my apartment in Astoria, Queens, but I got the eggplant from an artomat machine at the Whitney Museum in Manhattan)

EGGPLANT QUOTE: a happy moment

COMMENTS: I was intrigued by the artomat, and having trouble choosing which mystery item to get. I thought the stray eggplant looked cool, and I was not at all disappointed. It was so cute! I thought the quote was a little weird (especially since the quote on the box was "pesto, at best") but definitely sparks the imagination. I loved showing it to everyone who came over to my house!

ONE HAPPY HOPPER

OWNER'S NAME: Wynne

LOCATION: San Jose, California

EGGPLANT QUOTE: do a happy hop

COMMENTS: Though Wynne likes to hop, and hop rather happily, she is pictured here attempting to eat her mother's ceramic eggplant. We have no idea why this is.

WARY OF BANANAS

OWNER'S NAME: Maia

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, New Mexico

EGGPLANT QUOTE: never act on the advice of bananas

COMMENTS: In protest of the Iraq War, Maia had set up her own war memorial, complete with tiny plastic combat boots and a tombstone among other items. When she received this eggplant for her 9th birthday, she decided the bananas mentioned—whose advise we ought not heed—could be interpreted to include our country's commander-in-chief who launched the unnecessary and disastrous war. Her stray eggplant has now become a part of her war memorial installation.

CHEERS FOR EGGPLANTS

OWNER'S NAME: Sebastien

LOCATION: Altadena, California

EGGPLANT QUOTE: very good! very good! yay!

COMMENTS: This eggplant is emblazoned with the Laughter Yoga cheer: Very Good! Very Good! Yay! It's owner, Sebastien Gendry, is the founder and Director of the American School Of Laughter Yoga. He served for 2 years as World Operations Director for Laughter Yoga International, the organization leading the Laughter Clubs Movement of over 5000 clubs in 55 countries and is still the official representative for this movement in the USA.

An enthusiastic and articulate speaker, he has been featured several times in the US media (The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC Good Morning America, National Public Radio, Associated Press, CBS News, Telemundo, Celebrity Fit Club, KCAL 9, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, Inspire, and more).

WEBSITE: www.laughangeles.com