AJ Project: Hand-bound books

Laura, the Prairie Peasant, sent us a link to her lovely blog and some pictures of a beautiful hand-crafted book that she bound using ArtsJunktion materials.

Behold, a former car dealership calendar, transformed into the affectionately named "Cotton Candy Journal":

ArtsJunktion commends Laura for turning the unwanted trash of this world into a work of true beauty!

Laura documents her creative adventures on her Prairie Peasant blog, which can be found here.

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!

Alright Eco-Warriors, Saddle up!

RHCC March Break Project: TRASH-O-SAURUS!

The kids at River Heights Community Centre spent their March break learning a thing or two about trash!

Behold, the mighty Trash-O-Saurus, rescued from extinction in the landfill!  He was brought to life using salvaged supplies from Arts Junktion!

Way to go River Heights!!

Volunteering at ArtsJunktion

Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
~Margaret Mead



ArtsJunktion runs smoothly thanks to the tireless work of many dedicated volunteers. We are always looking for new volunteers so if you have some spare time and the desire to do some good in your community, drop in on us during open hours and work with us!

This story comes from new volunteer Ruth:

Tucked around the corner from Cre8tery Gallery and Art Supply store at 312B William Avenue in the Exchange District of Winnipeg is ArtsJunktion Recycling depot.

I've told you about them before. As a reminder they are a non-profit art supply recycling depot. Centred around recycled supplies of all types for teachers, artists and the community.

K2 and I spent a few hours volunteering there on Saturday. She still needed a few more hours towards her Holocaust trip and I thought this was an organisation we could both go and support.

Chloe, the depot manager is super friendly and helped us settle in quickly by letting us pick an area we wanted to clean up and organise the displays. K2 quickly gravitated toward the yarn and sewing notions which were a big tangled mess. She's always untangled these types of messes for me and has more patience than I do!

We had fun and found a few treasures for ourselves while we were at it.

It was interesting to see how busy the depot is on a Saturday. People were constantly coming and going with donations or making selections. Their system has people noting the cubic feet of donations and withdrawals and it's so great to see so many unwanted items being saved from going to landfill.

Now THAT'S recycling!

Check out the Recycled Crafts section of http://recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com/ for some amazing free-cycle art ideas, including this cat bed made from an unwanted computer monitor!

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)