Rethinking Trash into Inspired Art

Photo via Jaymi Heimbuch

Rethinking Trash into Inspired Art, a slideshow of images of beautiful art made out of recycled materials from Treehugger.com!

Sometimes when I tell people about junk art or found object art they mention how "green" it is to make art out of trash. I suppose it is "green." But, for me, junk gives so many more opportunities to be inspired - the objects have their own shapes and personalities right from the beginning! Working with junk encourages creativity and develops problem solving skills, I think. I'd like to do some research on it some day... but not today, no time no time!

Also, I mean, it's free. And in this economy, who can argue with free art supplies?

Happy birthday to me!!

Today is my birthday :) Hooray!

I am very excited to show you the progress on the "Defining Home" directive. I started this in one of my groups last week and now I love how it's going. The beans will be painted blue so they match the nest.

Maybe this is a boring post to you, but I am writing it the night before my birthday, and I have no idea what my birthday will bring (probably working in the ceramics studio and then going out to dinner). I also just got back from the American Art Therapy Association Conference in Sacramento, which I will tell you about a full month late in December - after Found Object Art Month is over.

So, enjoy the progress... I know I am!

Dead or Alive

Photo credit: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Dead or Alive, at the Museum of Arts and Design, includes Kate MccGwire’s “Discharge,” made of feathers.

By KAREN ROSENBERG
Published: April 29, 2010

Combine some of the materials in “Dead or Alive” at the Museum of Arts and Design, and you’d have a potent witch’s brew. A single piece by Tessa Farmer, for instance, makes use of a ram skull, a mummified frog and bat, bladderwort, hedgehog spikes, weasel skulls, a spider web and sections of a wasp’s nest. (Another sinister-sounding substance, volcanic ash, delayed the piece’s installation; it will be up by Tuesday.)

...

And while the art is made of things that are no longer living, the show is certainly lively. Almost everything in it will arouse some kind of curiosity, whether material, scientific or historic. The 16th-century wunderkammer, it seems, is an excellent model for a 21st-century art and design museum.

Read the full article here: nytimes.com/2010/0...


This show is no longer up, but what an interesting concept! I only found out about it a few days before it closed so I unfortunately didn't end up going. It's not quite junk art in that it isn't man-made trash, but it is interesting making art out of things that were once alive...

Check out the museum's website (with pictures of the installation and artworks) here:
collections.madmuseum.org/...

10 Amazing Artists Using Recycled Materials

Check out this article from Huffington Post: Junk Art (PHOTOS): 10 Amazing Artists Using Recycled Materials.

(Image credit to linked article at huffingtonpost.com)

Cigarette Butt Rug

This rug was made entirely out of found cigarette butts! That's pretty disgusting but it looks amazing! This is one of those "do not try this at home" type of things...

Read more about it here: designboom.com/...

(Image credit to the linked article)

Car Parts + James Corbett

Image credit: telegraph.co.uk

James Corbett was one of the first artists to pop up when I began my search for junk art artists. Specifically, I was looking for artists who made stuff out of old car parts, and these are just beautiful.



Image credit: pyd.com.au

Check out his website for more! Although, honestly, I'm finding a ton of stuff just searching in google images for "James Corbett car part art".

Art with leaves

Her blog is in French, but for more of these beautiful leaf assemblages visit atelierpourenfants' blog :)

I wish I could do some work like this! Maybe I'll have to get some leaves when I leave the city... not sure I trust the germy NYC sidewalks (haha).

Gnome-Be-Gone

I love the work of Fred Conlon! I'm pretty sure I saw him at the Bayou City Arts Festival in Houston a few years ago. I LOVE his wacky sculptures, especially his hilarious Gnome-Be-Gones:



One thing I love about junk art is that it often has a sense of humor. I guess you have to have a sense of humor when you make art out of random things you dig up!



Like the artwork? Click the images to purchase them! Or visit sugarpost.com.

Featured Blogs: Recycleart

The first featured blog of Found Object Art Month is a blog about recycle art called RecycleArt!


Many of the images and inspirations for this month come from this blog, so please browse through it! Of course, many of the work posted on this blog is out of reach for the average junk/trash/recycling artist, but they definitely are inspiring.

For instance, the cardboard paintings of Gavin Worth:


I'll be highlighting more art found on this blog in the coming month!

Found Object Art Month BEGINS!

Welcome to Found Object Art Month! I'm so excited to start this series off not only on my blog but at my site, where we'll be making art out of found objects all month! I'll also be posting here every day this month with pictures, blogs, and projects about found object art.

Today's is inspired by this beautiful photo I found in my junk art google image search...



I tried very hard to find the credit for this photo but I just couldn't. The best I got is that it might be from pixdaus, but I don't really know.

In any case, while searching for the owner of this photo I came across many other light bulb terrariums!



This one is from Tiny Terra, who may not have anything in her etsy shop right now, but she sells these! She also has instructions on how to make your own lightbulb terrarium on hipsterho.me.

What a great art project!