In this ongoing series, I clean a place, often with the help of the community, and then turn the collected garbage into a work of art.
The cleaning can be unpleasant and garbage may well be the least inspiring material there is. Using it as a medium, therefore, presents a fascinating artistic challenge. As the trash is sorted and prepared, the papers, plastics, metals and glass begin to tell tales of their physical histories. Each bit reveals a complex web of modernity into which we are all woven. Trash itself is a potent symbol; it surfaces as a symptom of the underlying hurtful way in which humans relate to nature.
Turning trash into a work of art represents what humanity is capable of: transforming ugliness into beauty, the damaging into the beneficial, and the fragmented into the whole. History has handed us an aching world and the opportunity to imagine, and then create something more ideal. Often, by the time a piece is finished, the place which was cleaned for it has started to become dirty again, but like an acupuncture needle, a subtle good has been done. The gesture of cleaning a place and turning the garbage into art is tiny in relation to the enormous challenges facing humanity today, but Urban Alchemy is a metaphor, it is a symbolic act of healing.
Prism
2009
dimensions variable
litter from Maritime Heritage Park, Bellingham, WA
NEW CONSCIOUSNESS
2008
6.5 feet x 4.5 feet
Seattle street litter, staples and shellac on recycled doors
THE GARDEN OF HOPE
2008
6.5 feet x 8.5 feet
Seattle street litter, staples, and shellac on recycled doors
REBORN
2008
7 feet x 2 feet 6 inches
Seattle street litter, nails, and staples on recycled door
MOUNTAIN OF CAPITOL HILL
2008
7 feet x 3 feet 6 inches
Seattle street litter, staples, nails, and glue on recycled doors
BELLINGHAM DANCE
2008
dimensions variable
litter from Maritime Heritage Park, Bellingham, WA
Trash to Treasure was a collaboration with over 100 people in the city of Auburn, just south of Seattle. The finished work will be on display at the Auburn City Hall for one year, starting December 2009.
Garbage to Gold was featured at the 2009 Seattle Green Festival. The finished work will be on display at the 2010 Festival.