The Collector: How an artist finds inspiration in overlooked materials

SESP fourth-year Tone Jackson stands in his art studio in the lower floors of Kresge Centennial Hall. Photo by Brielle Lowry / North by Northwestern.

Sitting cross-legged in a chair, Tone Jackson is surrounded by collections — a cup full of pistachio shells, artwork taped to the wall, a dozen reclaimed canvases, a bag holding hair clippings from his last afro cut and customized shirts hanging from a silver rack in the back corner. He recalls a time when even an empty jar of tomato sauce was...