Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Thought Provoking Art: HA Schult and Chris Jordan

If you've never visited How Can I Recycle This?, a web site produced in the UK focusing on ideas for recycling and reusing virtually any material, take a moment to check it out. If you have a material that you want to find a use for, you can send the suggestion to them to discuss and open up for comments from other readers. My one complaint about this inspirational site is that you can't browse by category anywhere except on the archives page, and even there, the topics listed don't seem to include all of the categories into which posts are placed. That's a personal thing--I like to see the categories that are available because I might not think to search by a particular phrase.

There have been a few interesting art projects discussed on How Can I Recycle This? recently, that I thought were worth pointing out. The first is HA Schult's Trash People. Schult installs an army of 1000 humanoid figures composed of garbage in various locations around the world in a stunning display that connects us to our waste and shows us that we are what we throw away. It's thought provoking and potential nightmare fodder for those with overactive imaginations (think of that army coming to life and trying to throw you away). The scale of these displays is amazing--follow the link to Schult's site from the How Can I Recycle This? blog and check out the photos. When you see masses of trash people lined up on the Great Wall of China or in front of Egyptian pyramids, it's hard to not get the message that we waste too much in our society and to begin to understand that wastefulness has an effect not only on resources, but on people as well. (Photo featured here is an image shown on How Can I Recycle This? and attributed to dbking on Flickr)

Just last week, How Can I Recycle This? featured the artwork of Chris Jordan, in particular an exhibition called Running the Numbers. This in another great visual aid to convey the scale of our wastefulness (along with other non-environmental social issues, as not every work in this exhibition deals with trash). Jordan presents striking images along with statistics that shock the system. Cans Seurat, his recreation of a famous Seurat painting using aluminum cans, for example, lets the viewer know that it was composed of 106,000 cans--"the number used in the U.S. every thirty seconds." I had been aware of Jordan before, having come across his web site for a previous work called Intolerable Beauty a few years back (check it and his other exhibitions out at http://www.chrisjordan.com/). If you want to convey the scale of waste in the U.S. to someone, the photos in Intolerable Beauty will certainly help. If you check out Running the Numbers on Jordan's web site, you can also view other visual aids related to the use of plastic cups on airlines, plastic water bottles, cell phones, fuel (in the form of jet trails and SUVs), paper bags, paper cups, plastic bags, office paper, and batteries, among other items. (Photo at left is Cans Seurat as shown on How Can I Recycle This?)

If all of this hasn't made you sick yet, go to National Geographic's Human Footprint for additional depressing illustrations of our consumption. The Trash People are mentioned on that site too.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Affordable Housing and a Reuse Revolutionary: Dan Phillips

If you haven't heard of Dan Phillips and his Phoenix Commotion project, please take a few minutes to check out his web site and watch the videos there--the one from the Texas Country Reporter is really inspiring. Dan teaches and assists "the working poor" of Huntsville, TX to build their own simple homes out of reused materials which might otherwise hit the landfill, inspiring hope, independence, empowerment and respect for the environment. The homes created from the materials at hand are really remarkable--you won't find your cookie-cutter, mega-box subdivision houses here. These homes are unique, filled with the character of the owner-builders and the areas in which they live. They are both whimsical and practical. Check out the "Project Photos" page and you'll see what I mean. If you look at the "interior" pictures, you'll see a mosaic of--be still my heart--metal bottle caps, a material which has always been a source of personal fascination for me. All sorts of fascinating materials are used in these homes; picture frame corners, natural logs, relish dishes, wine corks, you name it--if someone is throwing it away, Dan Phillips can probably find a use for it in the construction of a new home.

Dan Phillips and the folks who take him up on the opportunity to build and own their own homes are truly inspirational. This is a model that I would love to see replicated across the country, for the benefit of our people, our communities and our environment.

Sow's Ear Challenge

While surfing the net for more local food information, I came across the web site of Sleepy Creek Vineyards. I'm not a wine lover, but I was hoping to find out if they sell grapes or related products. I couldn't determine this from the site, but I did find a pleasant surprise while checking out their Hayloft Art Gallery page. Apparently this local vineyard hosts a contest called the Sow's Ear Challenge, in which folks are asked to "make a silk purse from a sow's ear," using reclaimed materials to create something new. This year, the theme was e-waste, and I wish that there were pictures posted of entries, especially since I came across an entry on an area blog (Smile Politely) discussing the vineyard and mentioning a "George Clooney toaster" that was one of this year's entries. According to the web site, last year the challenge material was a wooden pallet (again, I wanna see--where are the pictures?) and next year, the material will be cardboard. The site says Dean Schwenk won this year for a lamp made from old circuit boards, so congratulations to him for his really reuseful idea. Hats off to Sleepy Creek for what strikes me as a great idea, but I hope that in the future they'll post some photos (at least of the winners) and provide a list of the materials focused on from year to year.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Überstix--Legos for MacGyver's Kids

Today I learned about an interesting, unique construction toy called Überstix. I initially read about this on the Eco Child's Play blog in a post by Jennifer Lance. Überstix are made to be compatible with other construction toys, such as Legos, Erector sets, etc., and according to the web site are "engineered to work with recycled materials, i.e....straws...paper cups, paper clips, water bottles, etc." This is supposed to be true of all their products, not just the Scavenger series mentioned in Lance's post--that series is meant to be used with reused materials to create specific working models, like the Dragster and the Landshark (I'd love to link directly to the page illustrating those items on the Überstix site, but it's set up in an annoying Flash format and I can't; check them out on Amazon instead). Very nifty idea to encourage kids to use the materials around them to create their own toys. I've never seen an actual set of these and have no personal experience with how well they work, but Lance reports that they have been a hit with her seven-year-old daughter. This sounds like a great idea for a school science fair or class.

Friday, July 11, 2008

The Transmutation of Dryer Lint


Yesterday's post on Chen Long-Bin's book sculptures reminded me of another really interesting art project I learned about a few years ago. As proof that art can spring from even the lowliest of materials, Cheryl Capezutti created the National Lint Project. In a bizarre yet truly inspirational act of re-creation, Ms. Capezutti used dryer lint, much of which was donated, to create eerily appealing sculptures of humanoids and angels. Explore Capezutti's website to learn more about the project. The site includes information on donating lint, but I have no idea if the artist is still accepting this material, since the site looks as if it has not been updated in a while. Be sure to read the Exhibitions section, which describes how the National Lint Project included not only the sculptures, but a collection of notes the artist received from participants regarding their donated lint as well. That sounds as if it would be an interesting look into the minds of some kindred spirits, hoping to find a new life for even the fuzz from their laundry.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Having Your Head in a Book


While reading an altered book arts listserv post today, I came across a link to the art of Chen Long- Bin. (Can I just add that "Bin" is a great name for someone as into reuse and recycling as this talented man? I immediately think of the blue bin of paper for recycling sitting behind my desk.) Long-Bin sculpts the most amazing heads out of stacks of old phone books, magazines and printouts. Talk about having your head in a book! Be sure to have a look at the article from the November 2006 issue of Talkies linked to from this page (the image included here is from that article). This was a particularly interesting find for me, since only yesterday I was gazing at a stack of phone books in my office, thinking that I really needed to start mining them for paper to use in my own reuse crafts. I'm no sculptor, however, so Mr. Long-Bin needn't worry about competition from me anytime soon. What an inspiration!