What Are You Putting on a Pedestal?: Free to a Good Home

By: Isaac Brown

On Jan. 31, the Instagram account @freetoagoodhomegfu posted an image of a bag of hair labeled “Professor Hair (Clean)” on a pedestal in Brougher Hall, beneath a vinyl sticker that read: “Free to a Good Home.” This startling post was the genesis of a project resurrection by Assistant Professor of Art and Design and GFU alumnus Chandler Brutscher.

In 2015, when Brutscher was in undergrad, Ceramics Professor Mark Terry put a pair of shoes on a pedestal with an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper that read “Free to a Good Home.” These disappeared quickly, but were soon restocked with VHS tapes and other eclectic items people didn’t want anymore. The project faded over time, but after returning to GFU as an assistant professor in 2021, Brutscher re-established the tradition. She said she was intrigued by how cheap and gross things could “grow legs” and find a home.

Brutscher said the hair bag met the criteria of “invaluable and gross,” even “creepy.” However, Brutscher was not at all disappointed by the submission. She thought it was “funny” and that people could do with the project as they wanted. She said the project is a “[temperature] check on people’s values” and she was fine if the submissions turned into “non-sequiturs,” or even became “absurd.”

Brutscher says the project is in its “infant stage” and she’s excited to see it grow and change. She said the pedestal may appear at different locations across campus and she may hold a special event for the 100th item submitted. Either way, she said the installation is “indefinite.”

While Brutscher did create the installation to continue a tradition, she also has a personal interest in the subject of what people value. How fast will things come and go? What sort of things will people grab and what sort of things will people give up? For instance, the hair lasted a week. But what sort of thing would disappear the same day it was placed on the pedestal? Brutscher said even “trash” is intentionally designed, so that anything might have value to someone. Brustcher said one-time use products, wrappers, and “books that we read once then put on the shelf” may have great value if we take the time to consider them. For instance, she said a granola bar wrapper would be worthy to include in a piece of art, considering how much thought and design went into it.

A crock pot was put up after the hair was taken, and, as of Feb. 28, the pedestal is open for submission. Someone thought even a bag of hair was worth keeping; so think twice the next time you go to throw away some “trash.”