RE-IMAGINED – Transforming waste into art!

ArtSpring Gallery, March 14th - 27th

Making art from garbage? Yuk or WOW, what amazing works of art!

Salt Spring artists have created amazing new 2-D and 3-D pieces using waste that would otherwise have gone to the landfill. They will be showing these in the RE-Imagined Show at ArtSpring March 14-27th.

RE-Imagined started when the SSI Printmakers learned that the Hartland Landfill is, well, filling up. It’s a big problem! Since printmakers love to use garbage to create interesting textures and surfaces in their prints they leapt at the chance to create a new show. They knew that other artists would be excited to take part in the show. It turned out that the Capital Regional District was looking for creative ideas to support with small grants. Voila, RE-Imagined was born.

The artists in the Re-Imagined Show have used things like castoff building materials, pieces of plexiglass, paper products, old toy parts, insides of clocks, fabric bits and packaging waste. The results are incredible! You can marvel at their creations when you visit the show.

Students art works will also be on display. The Salt Spring Arts, Artists in the Class and the ArtStarts programs bring printmakers into the classrooms in schools to learn printmaking. In preparation for the Re-Imagined Show, students are understanding why we must practice the 5R’s – Reduce, Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle, and Repair. Younger children made prints using Styrofoam plates. Older students used mat board off-cuts and old packaging to create prints called collagraphs. The cover photo shows a plate using this technique.

A special challenge for the Re-Imagined Show is to create a mobile from waste materials. A second challenge is for local businesses to make a window display from either their own waste or from recycled materials. A map is coming to show where you can see these creations.

Put the date in your calendar to visit the RE-Imagined Show, Mar 14-27! It is open daily from 10 am – 4 pm in the ArtSpring galleries. The opening reception on Wednesday, March 15th, 3 – 6 pm is family friendly. The show is free. Come and see how garbage can be transformed into art.

The SSI Printmakers are a group of 50+ members who meet and work in the studio at SIMS, host workshops, and sponsor shows. All levels of skill and knowledge are welcome. They use only non-toxic materials that make for a safe working environment. You can find more information at www.ssiprintmakers.ca.

Plates used for printmaking have a limited life. If a plate is used for what’s called an ‘edition’, protocol requires that it be destroyed after the prints are signed and numbered so that buyers know that they are not buying a print that could be endlessly reproduced.

In this case, collagraphs are made by gluing materials onto a board (the plate), inking the plate, and putting the plate and paper through a press. As this one is a somewhat fragile mat board off cut covered with a wide variety of waste materials, its life would normally be very short indeed. But in this case it will be displayed proudly in RE-Imagined!

About our Cover Artist

Nora’s passion is now printmaking, a career in environmental consulting now long ago in the rear view mirror. The combination of imagination and fun with hands on carving and building up plates gets her into the new studio at SIMS on a regular basis. She’s also discovered how much she enjoys mentoring new printmakers!