This mum spotted her daughter’s dirty sock on the bathroom floor, but instead of picking it up, chose to turn it into an art exhibit!
Xep Campbell, 45, first added a museum-style sign naming the piece ‘The Forgotten Sock’, to tease her daughter Kestrel, 10, who, instead of picking up her washing, created a plinth for it!
Thus began a quiet game of one-upmanship, where a set of toy animals were added to appreciate the art in the Washington bathroom, and, eventually, so did the notorious monolith!
The now infamous sock was dropped on November 26, but it wasn’t until about six days later that the exasperated mother reminded her daughter of her responsibility in the most creative way possible.
“I thought she would be annoyed at me, I was not expecting her to literally put it on a pedestal!” said Xep from Port Townsend.
She said that Kestrel had previously made display tables for her stuffed animals so was capable of whipping one up quickly.
After the non-profit database administrator was notified of the addition by a texted photo from her daughter, the bathroom exhibition attracted a few guests.
Xep added some toy farm animals to the appreciate her artwork, and posted the picture online that quickly went viral
“That’s when it really escalated!” said Xep.
Still not giving in, a miniature monolith appeared next to the original masterpiece, made of painted silver mat board.
Mysterious metal monoliths have been popping up over the past few weeks in seemingly random locations across the world, including in a Romanian hillside and on the Isle of Wight!
The bathroom gallery was then given a seasonal flourish with some Christmas lights and other toy figurines turning it into a nativity scene!
Kestrel, Xep and her quietly appreciative husband Robert, 47, have since added more works of art across the skirting board, a pirate ship and an increasing crowd of Playmobil art connoisseurs!
The growing exhibition has caused a stir on Facebook with Xep’s public posts gaining thousands of likes and shares since her first post on December 3.
The mum-of-one then came up with the idea to turn her own joke into a force for good, calling out for donations to the Jumping Mouse Children’s Centre in Port Townsend.
She said: “The charity element was a bit spur of the moment; I was brushing my teeth ready for bed when the idea popped into my head after seeing their leaflet on the side earlier on so I went downstairs to write a post.
“Last year I asked a friend involved in social action what charity would do the most with a small amount of money so I could make a donation and they recommended Jumping Mouse.
“From this post now they have made over $8,000.”
If you would like to make a donation in ‘honour of The Sock’, please visit jumpingmouse.org/donate-ways-to-give