Volunteer Creations!

W.A.S.O (Work and Social Opportunities, Inc. See the website here.) sends us a great group of volunteers every Monday.  We like having them here as their happy dispositions always lighten the mood!  Sometimes they take some art supplies back to WASO HQ for the program participants to use.  (Although I have to say they are pretty discplined about resisting the temptation to grab all the cool stuff that they see come in and out!)
One day they took some clear CD cases and made some great art with them back at the program!

Here are the pictures of the beautiful crafts they made!

A Pile of Trash

If you're me, you're in the process of turning a giant garbage ball into a massive sphere that will eventually become a paper mache planet Earth.

If you're Tim Noble and Sue Webster, your ball of garbage is distinctly less spherical and more ........ abstract.  But of course, shine a light behind a seemingly random trash pile and you can end up with some pretty amazing silhouettes.

Here is their art


According to weburbanist.com, Sue and Tim collect their trash from the streets of London and through some combination of miraculous intervention, talent, and patience, they come up with the perfect shadow.

Here is the link:  http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/04/recycled-art-from-trash/

LEAP DAY!

Oh my gosh Upcyclers, we have disappeared for awhile but we're BACK with more great ideas to post on the blog.

To start, on this very special leap day of days, comes to us all the way from East Africa where my lovely mother (and avid ArtsJunktion supporter) was on safari.  One of the lodges had a very creative re-use idea for plastic water bottles.  All you gotta do is stab some holes in it and attach the mouth end to a hose and you have yourself a brilliant DIY sprinkler, and a use for at least ONE of those pesky little landfillers, plastic bottles.

Check it out, make your own and impress your neighbours this summer with your resourcefulness! Jambo!

More Junk Art - Get Inspired!

Hello Junk-ers, please take a look at our most recent eco-trash-art discovery.

An artist by the name of Tom Deininger makes these incredible pieces from old bits and bobs of unwanted STUFF.

Visit his website at www.tomdeiningerart.com

Rrrrribbitt ....

HEY! If you're moving lily pads, keep FrogBox in mind. They are one of our newest and most collaborative supporters! Frogbox gave us a totally rad gift for our annual fundraiser at the King's Head pub - a gift certificate and an awesome jacket!

Frogbox is an innovative and green Canadian small business! They rent out re-usable moving supplies (mostly in the form of green plastic bins - the frogboxes, y'all). They deliver them to you, you pack up all your jazz, move it to your new house, and they will come pick up the empties when you're done and rent them to somebody else! No more hassling with cardboard boxes. In fact, just this morning at the depot I picked up a cardboard box full of hanging-files and the bottom gave out spilling the contents all over the floor! Could've used a frogbox, I think.

Check them out www.frogbox.com!

November! It's cold outside stay home and make art!!!

It's busy here at the depot ... there is an endless supply of awesome materials to keep your creative engine running!  Come check it out ... we've got a ton of new fabric, and soon to get commercial-sized spools of embroidery thread! The wooden beads are almost gone so get em while you can!
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In other news, Spain is certainly reducing their carbon footprint via the magical world of trash art.  Check out the work of Cristina and Gustavo on their cool website CG Reciclado Artistico

If you want to make a beautiful fish like this one .... Come to ArtsJunktion because we've got more plastics than we know what to do with!

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Thanks to everybody who came out to our annual fundraising social at the King's Head Pub - it was fun, lots of prizes were won and we raised enough money to keep this place afloat for another good long while!

Visit our website www.artsjunktion.mb.ca

Fan Art!

Here are some great bags made by loyal ArtsJunktion shopper Marie Mason.  She designed and sewed these bags using repurposed materials found here at the depot.

They are for sale at the depot with proceeds supporting ArtsJunktion.  Thanks Marie for turning unwanted scraps into something so beautiful!

You can make a living from Junk-Art!

Check out these gorgeous sculptures made from plastic utensils, some selling for $10, 000 a piece!

Stuff Stuff Stuff ... we're stuffed

The world is stuffed

Close your eyes and imagine:
...your pile of unused stuff.

...adding the unused stuff from every house in your neighbourhood. Now your city. Now your country.

...all the factories producing more stuff every second:  http://www.storyofstuff.com/

...all the people who don't even have what they need and can't afford to buy new or buy at all.

...being a part of the solution instead of the problem.


It's easy. Just take a deep breath, and let go.

Someone will thank you for it. It might even be you.

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

Tupperware: How to recycle into art

Plastics seem to find their way over to the AJ depot fairly frequently. We don't take tupperware, cookie trays, yogurt tubs, etc for a variety of reasons. But now, we've got a project for you if you find yourself in the possession of some Tupperware you no longer want: Jellyfish.

Check out this beautiful picture from James Moulder's blog:

  

The top portion, the "body" of the jellyfish looks like it might be some sort of plastic bundt cake mold.  I have to say the white, semi-opaque slickness of it lends itself really well to becoming a plastic jellyfish.  The tentacles are made of beads and what looks like lace trim!

Try it yourselves! Be inspired by some unwanted plastic and send us a photo!

GUERILLA CROCHET -- A MUST SEE!!

I post this with the best of intentions, as I know that yarn can be a hard commodity to secure around here! (in other words, the insane popularity of yarn never seems to cease!)

But I just had to share this and HEY if you are addicted to both crafting and minimalism, this could be the answer. Spend all your time crocheting like mad and then leave it somewhere outside your house!

Any way you slice it, Guerilla Crochet is just brilliant and definitely provides a little chuckle. Check it out on Street Art Utopia!

Collaborative Consumption: It's on the rise!

It is one of Time magazine's "Ideas that will change the world", collaborative consumption is the new way for everybody.  Community-based sharing is what its all about and we at ArtsJunktion know that better than anybody!

Check out the website and the book for an educated approach to dumpster diving and get sharing!

Upcoming Workshop: All are invited

Our allies at W.R.E.N.C.H have extended an invitation to their non-violent conflict resolution workshop.  Please read the following:

Saturday August 6

Non Violent Communication and Conflict Resolution Workshop - This workshop will be lead by Karen Ridd. 

Bike shop volunteers find themselves dealing not just with mentoring and teaching people - but also with some tricky interpersonal situations.  Karen Ridd will lead a hands-on, participatory workshop that gives volunteers tools and techniques for verbally de-fusing people, and for resolving conflict.  The focus will be on practical skills and practise, using real life scenarios that volunteers have encountered to add to peoples' existing skills.  Karen Ridd teaches in the Conflict Resolution Studies programme at the University of Winnipeg: she has worked with grassroots organizations for years, including human rights work in Latin America, community capacity building in Southeast Asia and First Nations communities, and living in inner-city Winnipeg.  

Participants in this workshop will gain tools, techniques and skills, and will do hands-on practise for:
- defusing high tension situations and
- dealing with intra-organizational and interpersonal conflicts
Participants will develop and hone their communication skills for effective conflict resolution

2:00 - 5:00 PM at the United Way Building main floor 580 Main St. 

If you'd like to confirm your attendance at this workshops, we'd love to know you are coming so please RSVP.

Contact us at programs@thewrench.ca or 296-3389 

www.thewrench.ca

Art can be made from ANYTHING

James Franco has been called a Renaissance Man lately, as he has been active in not only movie-making but also visual art and higher education.  Recently, he has sold "the idea of art" for $10,000 to a Canadian woman in Montreal. 

The following is a story that exemplifies another use of some very non-traditional media.  This story is copied from Mike Doughty's blog, waaay back in 2006.

I'm walking through Union Square en route to meet Scrap, and there's a Japanese girl sitting at a card table with a sign: "Give Me Your STRESS for My ART."

I stop. How do I give you my stress?

She pushes a card and a pencil towards me and tells me to write down what's stressing me out. I write Judgement of my music.

She draws the outline of a bird-fish over my handwriting, and then fills in the space around it with blue; paints the bird-fish yellow; gently flicks white paint over the picture; affixes a little heart sticker over the word music, the faint outline of which is the only word left visible.

She hands me the card. Do I owe you something?

"I accept donations."

I get ten bucks out of my wallet.

"That's too much," she says.

No, that's OK, it's not so much for me.

She smiles and thanks me. "You don't take it home," she says.

I'm confused.

"You take the art home, but leave the stress."

There. Now if people can make art out of ideas and stress, you can certainly try your hand at using some junk!  Come on down to AJ and try it for yourself.

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??

WHAT I MADE: testimonial from an AJ first-timer!

Beautiful people of Winnipeg, here comes our next recycled-artist. Meet Shelley who recently us and was instantly inspired!

Here's what she has to say: 

"I just discovered ArtsJunktion last week.  I came in and picked up a few things, and I wanted to show you what I've made so far with the items I picked out.  All three of these are painted on old 5.5" floppy diskettes ... The plan is to use these as mail art - write a name and address on the back, slap a stamp on it and see how far it gets. 

Thanks for what you're doing.  I think it's amazing!!"

And the best part is what Shelley's kids had to say:

"Now my kids are mad I didn't get more so they could play too - so I'll probably be back to pick up half a dozen more."

See!? Resourcefulness just inspires more resourcefulness! Come to AJ and share your own creations!

Styrofoam: It's not all bad

Styrofoam, also known as polystyrene to people with English accents, is notoriously trashy.  It doesn't biodegrade and it has practically no use other than sandwiching your new DVD player and all of its individually packaged parts into a cardboard box.

While this function is of course, very useful when shipping items of a delicate constitution, it is hard not to hate Styrofoam once your DVD is set up and you have no further use for it. Scattered on your living room floor, you curl your lip in disdain as the white blocks of foam stare back at you, taunting.  Now, you have to "deal with it". 

Sigh.

We get a lot of Styrofoam at AJ.  And I think it's time we started to consider the uses and re-uses of our most despised un-recyclables (I'll talk about VHS tapes another time.  There's a lot going on there.)  Styrofoam, in capable hands, can be a most malleable substance.  Perhaps some of you will relish the challenge of making your best art with your worst enemy.

The following are inspirational sites and images to help get you started:

From http://eeryelegance.blogspot.com/2010/04/styrofoam.html

And is all the gossip around the water cooler boring you, and you find yourself searching for deeper meaning? DOODLE on your Styrofoam cup.

From http://xaxor.com/creative/4508-amazing-sharpie-art-on-styrofoam-cups-.html

And if you purchase a lot of appliances, do your part and go for something .............. bigger.

From http://picturesportal.blogspot.com/2011/01/recycled-styrofoam-art.html

Event of the Year!! Art Auction

Okay, the second annual Art Auction Fundraiser is tomorrow starting at 6:30pm with our AGM, then 7:00 for a viewing, and the LIVE auction at 8:00.


Please come on over to 312B William Ave, it is shaping up to be a really fun evening in support of an excellent cause!

"Creative Eco-Design" from CultCase

Whatever you call it, creative eco-design, Trashion, aesthetic re-junking (my personal favourite), Junk-art is here to stay!

CultCase has provided a great collection of concepts in their article here.

It seems that recycled art is turning into a natural descendant of the formerly radical "found art". When I look at some of these pictures from cult case, I can't help thinking of that episode of The Simpsons where Homer decides to create "modern art" by sticking a bunch of shovels and rakes into semi-dried cement. Of course, the artists featured on CultCase are doing much much better than our dear Homer!



"Vacuum cleaner Forest" is most certainly my favourite from this article. Whats yours?


**Don't forget!! ArtsJunktion is now closed on Saturdays until the fall!