6x24 inches
acrylic, watercolor paper, kraft paper on stained maple panel
$495

The Jobs of Yesteryear series combines history and surrealism to tell the stories of obsolete jobs. A contemporary glimpse into the past, these mixed media paintings serve as a reminder of a time and stories long forgotten.

This particular Job of Yesteryear mixed media painting features a street sweeper. Since the advent of streets, sanitation workers have been tasked with keeping them clean. Early on, this was mainly to clean up discarded trash and horse droppings from horse-drawn carriages. Their most trusted tools were a large pushbroom and shovel. The first mechanical street sweeper, invented in 1843, was pulled by a horse. Later iterations followed until the modern self-propelled version was invented in 1896 by Charles B. Brooks, an African-American inventor Newark, New Jersey.

The Street Sweeper was created with acrylic paint. The long-limbed character was cut from paper and collaged with kraft paper. The Jobs of Yesteryear are thought-provoking conversation pieces that will bring an air of history and whimsy to any room.