Trashy Recycling
Studio Seminar, Second Reading
Ecological Art (Wilson)
Ecological art is something I've never really considered before. As someone who is interested in environmental concerns, the fact that I've never considered this before is a bit odd to me. Not too sure why...
After reading the... reading, I found the idea of artists using found object usually labeled as trash to create new artwork, as in a different way of recycling the waste products of human consumption. Creations such as these force people to look at 'trash' in a new light- not as something disposed or wasted, but as something new and valuable- as art.
Artists such as Steve Bradley, who creates and sells sculptures created from the trash he picks up, and Pablo and Blas Montoya (of Trashformacions), who analyse the transformation of an object's meaning as they are discarded, create new sculptures from what was considered garbage and force the audience to reconsider their waste products.
Works such as these, for me, create both a new life for discarded garbage and items of waste and over-consumption and a reminder as to what toll us humans take on the environment through or industrial processes.
These ideas of reclamation and recreation in an environmental/waste product setting led me to investigate the recycling of the heap of plastic grocery bags that have been accumulating in our pantry over the course of... at least a decade or so.
As for what this could mean for my practice, not too much in relation to many of the large scale examples depicted in the reading, though it may warrant further investigation. My practice does not really revolve around installations, performances, or otherwise large scale pieces, but a line of environmentally inspired jewellery may be in the cards....
Ecological Art (Wilson)
Ecological art is something I've never really considered before. As someone who is interested in environmental concerns, the fact that I've never considered this before is a bit odd to me. Not too sure why...
After reading the... reading, I found the idea of artists using found object usually labeled as trash to create new artwork, as in a different way of recycling the waste products of human consumption. Creations such as these force people to look at 'trash' in a new light- not as something disposed or wasted, but as something new and valuable- as art.
Artists such as Steve Bradley, who creates and sells sculptures created from the trash he picks up, and Pablo and Blas Montoya (of Trashformacions), who analyse the transformation of an object's meaning as they are discarded, create new sculptures from what was considered garbage and force the audience to reconsider their waste products.
Works such as these, for me, create both a new life for discarded garbage and items of waste and over-consumption and a reminder as to what toll us humans take on the environment through or industrial processes.
These ideas of reclamation and recreation in an environmental/waste product setting led me to investigate the recycling of the heap of plastic grocery bags that have been accumulating in our pantry over the course of... at least a decade or so.
(Heap of *gasp* plastic grocery bags)
Plastic bags are notorious pollutants, but extremely handy if you don't think too much about that part. You put stuff in them. You use them to lug things around. They're compact, easy to stash for use at a moment's notice. They're 'disposable', but not so much biodegradable.
Inspired by the idea of recycling and reclamation, yet standing as a stark reminder of what we have created and what this could mean for humanity, I created a wearable garment out of plastic bags.
(Bags are meant to contain.... now they could contain you)
Its... something. I have to admit, both the fact that I am a jewellery + metals major and the proposed title for this reading as "body/ecology" got me a little stuck on the idea of creating something wearable....
This garment (can you call it a garment?) serves as both a way to recycle (in a way) the accumulated stash of plastic bags that we've intended to recycle anyways and as a reminder of the weight of the ecological impact upon the shoulders of humanity.
(The back of the.... garment?)
(Front(ish) view of the bag garment)
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