End of Summer + some more inspiration!

Well, if any of you have visited our depot this summer, you've surely noticed that the concrete interior remains cool despite the sweltering heat we've had! And then, if you stuck around longer than 20 minutes you surely noticed that one heats up quite quickly inside the depot regardless!

Despite the heat, we've had a glorious summer here at ArtsJunktion, thanks to our Green Team summer youth worker, Blue, who has been working on the beautification of our outdoor space and helps with the day to day tidying of our interior! Pictures to follow, of course.

And now for some more recycled art inspirations, check out Clare Graham's website which looks itself like an ode to AJ.  She does things with bottle caps I've never dreamed of!!  There are too many pictures to copy and paste into this blog post but if you have a moment follow the link to her site and browse her awesome art, all from recycled materials!

Bottle Caps from Clare Graham Art

Styrofoam: Part 2

So the planets aligned and after the enthusiastic response to my earlier post on styrofoam, about a million people donated it to us.  Now we have this styro-corner at ArtsJunktion and it beckons to the creative crafters out there!

I just got word that more is on the way, so I will offer up one last image as inspiration for all of you resourceful people.  If you aren't keen on putting a life-size styro T-Rex in your living room, try this tasteful wall art. Talk about conversation piece.  You can brag to your friends about how you turned the packaging from your end table into the wall art that hangs behind it. How about it??

Spring is on the way

Barring our recent blizzard (and let's just pretend that never happened), spring is on the way in Winnipeg.

I love coming to work at our exchange district depot and hanging out in this historic building.  The beautiful brick facades, the fire escapes and the large windows give this area such a unique look. As the exchange sees more and more of its buildings morphing into beautiful loft condos, I offer this article from apartmenttherapy.com to our ever-growing urban neighbourhood.

Pallet gardens are looking like a wonderful way to maximize small space and still bring a little green into your life!

We've got a couple of pallets kicking around the AJ depot, so maybe when the weather improves once and for all we can give this a try too!

Find the Perfect Match!

Every now and then we make the perfect pairing! Like choosing the ideal wine to compliment your meal, finding the exact piece of "junk" that you need is pretty satisfying!

For example, this story comes from volunteer Geri:

"Several months ago we were given boxes and boxes and boxes of those long foamie strips (see Fig. 1).  Not too many people are interested in them and they stuck around for months.  When I was working at AJ on Monday, about half an hour  before closing time a young grade 3 teacher came in for the first time.  She spent awhile looking and as she was leaving I asked her if she managed to get some stuff that she could use.  She looked a bit downcast and said.....only a bit.  Then she said she is doing sculptures with her grade 3 class and didn't know what to take so she hadn't taken hardly anything.  I showed her a box of the foam strips and showed her how her students might use them and her face lit up and she was really excited.  She took 5 boxes of them!  I asked her if she would send pictures of her students' art once they are done.
I felt really good because I was able to pair her with some junk that was perfect for her project."

Fig 1: Long Foamie Strips (foamius stripianus)