Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man is taking the idea that "anything can be art" to an extreme — and making dirt work for him.
David Densley's piece is not attracting a lot of attention yet, but he believes many people can relate to the reason behind it. In the constantly changing world of what's new, his piece is a stand-out, not because people have never seen a decorative orb but because of where this one started.
"I created a small sphere out of mud that I polished until it shined kind of like a pretty piece of pottery," Densley said. "Then I convinced my mom to stick it on the piano."
Densley didn't make up the process; he saw someone do it on TV. It stands as a reminder of something your mother told you not to do.
Densley decided that perhaps he could attract some attention with it and sell the piece on eBay; after all, stranger things are sold on the auction website. And it's actually an ancient Japanese art form, shaping mud into polished spheres. Densley said he is doing it to mount a personal protest.
An auction for the sphere is currently underway on eBay. The item began at 99 cents, but as of Tuesday evening, it had 48 bids with the highest bid at $122.50.
Densley is not only selling the item, he's also drawing attention to a problem.
"(I) put a little story about what I think about student interest rates" onto the item's auction page, he said. Under the title "Shiny dirt ball decor Mr. Fed eat my dirt" is written: "We, the silent masses of students, simply can't do anything about it. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and, for a limited time, I'm selling dirt. ... Help me stick it to The Man."
Densley said he just needs someone, somewhere to catch the vision of his dirt. And he said for his next project, he may try ashes from the fire pit in his parents' backyard.
