08 January 2009
I was walking through the pearl district recently and peered into the window of an art gallery and saw a beautiful huge light sculpture made from styrofoam packing. So i decided to go in and take a look. What i found truly inspired me.
As many of you know i am a reformed pack rat. I find strength in turning junk into useful things. I looked around at the show and saw really interesting things, familiar things; combs, lipstick containers, bottles, fabric, a dress made of zippers, more of the styrofoam light sculpture, marker tops, thread spools, china, road signs, corrugated plastic, safety pins, tape, straws, plastic soldiers, crochet table, facial peel, embroidered viral designs, henna blood, and moreover things you'd not usually find in high class art. However, innovative artists have created just that, an inspiring show at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon that is
breathtakingly beautiful and refreshing as a sprout.
To see plastic soldiers melted into a bowl gave me a few introspections. First, i thought of what the artist must have done to create such a piece. Secondly, i thought of people scowering through andfills looking for materials to make art with. I also thought of how easy some of this stuff was to make. Imagine placing rows and rows of combs together, framing it and then adding some paint (earth tones and cobalt blue). The result is stunning, stops you in your tracks, and then you start reflecting on a lot of things. at first glance i hadn't noticed the materials in these works were all common things. it just looked like art. Most could be homemade with some care, love, glue and imagination. the two floor show revealed its crafty intentions in multi-purposed layers. My chitta was lifted.
In the show's brochure, a story line from Star Wars is related. We are asked to consider Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"He died a noble death in Star Wars...so that his energy could be released throughout the universe." The brochure went on to say "In a similar way craft has vanished one moment only to manifest more broadly than ever a moment later, this time it has been absorbed into seemingly every element of creative culture - a powerful force and equally powerful source guiding the makers of objects whenever and wherever questions of material based poetics are raised, celebrated and rewarded." Its true, if you think about it on multiple levels.
When we are in kindergarten we make art from macaroni, then as we grow older it gets more complex, and toxic. Historically, people made art from skins (though,as a vegan, i only encourage this for roadkill), shells, rocks, leaves, etc. Imagine creating your own reused craftware from a mixture of nature and trash! resources
including boxes, plastic packaging, bottles, broken things (like old electronics), knick-knacks, car parts, housewares, and more can come together to make art that allows the viewer to see the world as constant change.
Reusing things to make art can be a collaborative, cooperative, resourceful way to reduce the "carbon footprint" (ooh, how about making a footprint out of trash!). Reuse plastic bags by using them to line ponds, then add cardboard to start
organic growth and then put small rocks and sand/dirt on top. The plastic will hold in the water, and you'll have a pond for 25,000 years (or, so...) Old plastic can be cleaned with castile
soap. In my gardening class we used a bag of 100% recycled coconut fiber (instead of ripping out a peat bog) then used the bag for a pond, it was so fulfilling not to have garden waste! You can then use bags as art, or stretch a bunch out (in layers) for a canvass for collage. also use them for sculptures, and paper mache. There are many uses that refresh like a sprout instead of throwing out.
The more time you spend looking at your trash artistically, the more things you will think of. like a meditation on eliminating landfills (or at least your share). when trash is made into art then given away there is also culture. Especially during the holidays. Scraps of material can be made into fancy garments, costumes, and warm layers (sometime all at once). Reusing resources can eliminate unwarranted clutter, and make you feel better. Use unwanted trash to make a scarecrow for the garden! Mylar potato chip bags can be reused for art and to increase light in the garden instead of being thrown away. Ribbons can be made with cloth scraps. In reusing and modeling craft from readibly available things (to make other things) then we have apporoached an interesting model that Frank Lloyd Wright reffered to as the importance of having form and function.
Imagine reusing things from land fills to make healthy art, and spreading the idea worldwide. The force is with
us, so to speak. We can choose to reuse anything to make art and beautiful sustainable communities. Its more rewarding and thought provoking than becoming packrats with unused treasures.
Interesting websites:
http://www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org/manufractured (site for the Mueseum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon - mentioned above in this article)
http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/04/recycled-art-from-trash/ (this ones huge, and great! a collection of 70 works of "trash art" to look at)
http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/15/7-more-awesome-trash-artists/ (from the same site - gives bios and descriptions of famous trash artists and their work)
http://www.kid-at-art.com/htdoc/matchtmp.html (a guide for activities with kids making art out of trash)
http://www.eco-artware.com/newsletter/newsletter_09_02.php ("Recycling Rag" newsletter from Eco-artware.com, a website offering gifts from reused, recycled and natural materials) http://www.makeartnottrash.com/endnotes.htm (lots of pics and lots of links!)
Editor's Note: Teacher Eva Valo contacted us to suggest another resource for this article that one of her 4th grade student's found. We are adding it here:
http://www.creativedisplaysnow.com/articles/creative_cardboard.htm (great resource page on eco friendly/recycled art projects)
(and so many more sites, just go online and search!)
enjoy great peace and happiness
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