“Art from Detritus: Recycling with Imagination” Exhibition

Viridian Artists, Inc.

[Image: William Patrick Armstrong “To Speak When Broken” Tyvek, paper towel, ink 11 x 9.5 in.]

This event has ended.

Viridian Artists presents the exhibit “Art of Detritus: Recycling with Imagination” featuring fine art made primarily from trash. The heart of this exhibit is the message of the three R’s: Reduce/Reuse/Recycle and especialy “upcycling” which is the essence of making art from trash. There will also be a closing reception/ poetry slam on Saturday, February 18, 4-6PM. Let’s talk about trash!

“Art From Detritus” serves to enrich the dialogue between art and the lives of ordinary people because we all have too much trash. By focusing on recycling or “upcycling” as their method and source for creating, these artists have made their artmaking serve as both a message and inspiration. This exhibit reaches beyond the art world, serving as a message not only about art, but also about recycling for the good of the environment, a goal becoming more and more pressing as we continue to discard packaging and take a new plastic bag each time we buy. The 5 cent charge per plastic bag to be imposed soon will begin to address a small part of this environmental calamity.

Since 1994, the changing group of artists in this exhibit has opened dialogues with viewers about the importance and usefulness of art as something beyond decoration. Artists often cannot afford studio assistants, expensive materials and equipment for art making, but seeing beauty in the discarded, these artists creatively deal with the problem of too much trash by using it to create fascinating and unique art. Artists have been using found objects to make art for eons, but now it has become political.

“Art from Detritus”, or art from trash, was first conceived and curated by Vernita Nemec, an artist/ curator in 1994 in Portland Oregon during the annual conference of the National Recycling Coalition (NRC). Presented there in the lobby of a recycled Sears Roebuck building & the corporate head quarters for municipal waste & recycling, the exhibit has re-occurred with funding from the Kauffman Foundation, the Puffin Foundation and sponsorship by the NRC. The exhibit was presented in Pittsburgh at the Westinghouse headquarters, the Museum of Arts & Crafts and the AIA; in Kansas City MO at the Linda Hall Library of Science, Rockhurst College & the Writer’s Place. Phoenix AZ, Turners Falls MA and NYC have all been Detritus exhibition sites since those early years. In NYC, Detritus exhibits have occurred at the Henry Street Abrams Arts Center, Gallery 450, Synagogue for the Arts, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Farleigh Dickinson University, WAH (Williamsburgh Art Center) and for the thirds time at Viridian.