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March 22, 2024
29
Local News for a Global Village | www.VoiceSB.com
No-Waste Earth: The Recycled Show
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By Jesse Caverly / VOICE
ANTA BARBARA IS THE PERFECT PLACE TO PUT YOUR TRASH ON EXHIBIT. Discarded and unwanted refuse is now art, and the Community Arts Workshop is presenting it to you front and center in The Recycled Show, opening with a reception on March 29th, from 5 to 9pm.
found objects find new meaning in assemblage.
None of this is lost on Jami Joelle Nielsen, the exhibit’s organizer and curator. “We have a staggering variety and number of interdisciplinary, innovative, educational, philanthropic, environmental, and creative organizations, The old adage “Art is theft” endeavors and qualities feels somewhat antiquated now, in serving the framework of the age of generative AI and music our community, so much sampling. Much art has almost been so that when I considered eclipsed, even nullified by apps that can organizing an annual recycled “do it all” with a few quick swipes and taps on art exhibit, I was surprised we our phones. Couple this with the perils our Plight Of The Humble Bee, mixed media didn’t already have one. After contemporary climate and environment by Jami Joelle Nielsen all, this is Santa Barbara — aka face and perhaps ‘Paradise,’ and home to the “Art is recycling” 1969 Oil Spill, which galvanized the Earth Day might be more movement and spurred the creation of the nation’s apt. first collegiate Environmental Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Channel At CAW, this Islands off our coast are often referred to as ‘The will be taken Galapagos of North America’ for the biodiversity to a logical found in our local waters and adjacent ecosystems.” conclusion in their up-coming This inspired Nielsen to ask a dozen local artists exhibit: bottle to create recycled works of art centered on an caps are woven environmental issue of their choice, and to compose into colorful a narrative to accompany their artwork. The issues quilts; small that the artists presented range from Climate Change plastic gears, tiny to Species Extinction, Fast Fashion to the Pollinator rubber ducks, buttons, and the broken off arms of eyeglasses silhouette a bumble bee; and tangled fishing lures, “Petals Like A River 01” from “The Ritual” Series, rusting, oxidized mixed media: Expired cyanotype, Fuchsia railroad ties, and petals, Yamamotoyama Genmaicha tea
Crisis, Wildfires, Tech Waste, and so on. There is, sadly, no shortage of subject matter to address. “In these modern times of anthropogenic flux and climate instability, recycled art fits in now more than ever,” Jami says. “Our consumption habits make waste materials ubiquitous and readily accessible as a resource for creative endeavors that also reflect and draw attention LittleCreeper, mixed media to the crisis of by SueVan Horsen human pollution threatening both ecosystem and human health. Art is a vital modality that speaks to the need for change. In a world where generative AI art is becoming so prevalent, recycled materials and analog methods of creative expression provide greater possibilities for tangible ingenuity and commentary than that which AI can produce.” The opening reception will feature a live interactive plastic “mandala” art assemblage, poetry, music, a “Make a Fish Wish” for the planet activity, a showing of the environmental art film Wasteland, and tabling by environmental organizations like Channelkeeper and Heal the Ocean, as well as light snacks and beverages. For more, visit www.sbcaw.org/upcoming
sleeves, acrylic, paper by Kimberly Hahn
Lil’ Bottlecap Quilt, by Dan Levin
Daily Catch, mixed media by Heidi Parker
Split Level, mixed media by Adrienne De Guevara