Key’n You Dig it?

Lonnie Holley’s piece “I Can’t Eat Locks” from 2005 is a sculptural work that I find playful and silly while still also driving home the weight of “access”. The piece is a bent spoon locked up with several padlocks, with a clever title and biting commentary. The simplicity of locking up an everyday object, one that is used to feed oneself while also calling upon the proverbial “silver spoon”, drives deeper into the heart of a multi-layered and complex message. I found it very amusing at first glance and teased out more questions and observations upon further investigation; who has the keys? Does the spoon still function? Is it status? Is it exclusivity? Who are the locks intended to keep out? There are a million spoons why is this one locked?
I kept returning to the idea of the silver spoon in particular, and the distinction between the ‘haves” and the ‘have-nots’. As I rolled this idea around and chewed on it, I came back on this old idea that the number of keys on one’s keychain is an indication of one’s level of access and status. Keys can represent not only access and status, but veneration like when someone is presented with the key to a city, or adoration as in the key to my heart. I found myself on a Google search for understanding how lock and key systems work, and that morphed into a scavenger hunt for all the keys in my house. I am transfixed with all these little serrated pieces of metal representing exclusive access. I photographed the collection I ended up with, genuinely stunned that I have so many from out of drawers, rings, cups, hooks, pockets and bags I pulled keys out of everywhere! I don’t think that this photograph will be the final piece regarding my collection of keys; but I think staring at this pile of metal pieces specifically made to keep others out has bent my mind. I think there are a number of ways to interpret these little objects like creating jewelry or decorative pieces, possibly as a trophy, wearable piece, maybe even edible keys, or dissolving keys, a reactive key set that gently shocks you when you touch it.
As I think about Lonnie Molley and his commentary on the spoon being locked, I am curious about who has the keys and how did they come upon those keys. I would love to build this idea into the curriculum as a sculptural project for kids. Make a key; what does it unlock? Who is it for? How does it work? What does it represent? Or possibly make a lock and key that doesn’t necessarily look like a traditional lock and key; is it a passcode? Is it a riddle? Is it puzzle? Is it a tune played on a keyboard like Willy Wonka’s chocolate garden? Maybe use the idea of lock and key to investigate what is something the kids want to protect and keep away from other people; what would you want to restrict access to? Who would have a key? How would you secure it? Maybe ask them about something they feel they don’t have access to; what does that lock look like? What do they think the key looks like? How can one gain access when it is not always apparent?
I think in my past I was not given creative reign; projects were very predictable and outcome based. I think I will come at lessons and assignments as investigations. I think that looking through the Luna database has been incredibly beneficial and I love the idea of a visual bank to draw from. I would like to inspire my students to create visual collections (online or in real life). I think that things like instagram and tik tok are already ways that kids are creating a bank of images and sharing with one another, so I would hope to utilize that to curate experiences a little more purposefully.