Category Archives:Art

29
Apr

Bottlecap Art: Mixed Media Assemblage by Leigh Kirkland

Bottlecap Fish by Leigh Kirkland

I spotted this awesome bottlecap fish at Sweet Melissa's, a breakfast place in downtown Decatur, GA. Isn't it awesome?

Atlanta artist Leigh Kirkland made this bottlecap fish, and it looks like just one of many in her collection. She works in a variety of media, from watercolors to mixed media art featuring found objects. Her found object assemblages are by far my favorite pieces though.

There's a great bottlecap flounder on her website that uses old hinges as the fins. I just love how she uses what she has to create sweet art pieces that clearly have a sense of humor.

Have you spotted any cool, upcycled art lately? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Posted:   |   Categories: Art, bottlecap art, crafty reuse, creative reuse, Innovation, mixed media
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22
Apr

Dog Portrait Made from Reclaimed Cardboard

Dog Portrait from Recycled Cardboard

Artist Ali Golzad created the awesome dog portrait pictured above out of reclaimed corrugated cardboard, but his depth as an artist goes much deeper.

I didn't understand folks who had portraits done of their dogs until my husband and I adopted our sweet rescue a few years ago. Now I could totally see myself wanting a piece of wall art featuring our sweet girl Jenna. The cut up pieces of cardboard give the piece a beautiful texture, don't they? You almost want to reach out and pet this sweet pup! The dog is named Lucy, and Golzad created the portrait for her owners.

Invisible People by Ali Golzad

Golzad is an avid craftivist, and his body of work extends far beyond dog portraits. His series Invisible People - also made using reclaimed cardboard - is meant to raise awareness about human trafficking. This excerpt from his artist's statement about the series is so powerful:

I have a strong affinity for these traumatized and abused children because when I was ten years old, I was forced to flee my native Iran due to revolution there and live as an orphan in Sweden until I was reunited with my parents three years later. To me the plight of child soldiers and children abused as sex slaves escapes notice in the civilized word which causes me to question how civilized we really are. To me, these are invisible people.

Posted:   |   Categories: Ali Golzad, Art, cardboard, cardboard art, craftivism, human trafficking, Innovation, Invisible People, upcycling
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22
Apr

Dog Portrait Made from Reclaimed Cardboard

Dog Portrait from Recycled Cardboard

Artist Ali Golzad created the awesome dog portrait pictured above out of reclaimed corrugated cardboard, but his depth as an artist goes much deeper.

I didn't understand folks who had portraits done of their dogs until my husband and I adopted our sweet rescue a few years ago. Now I could totally see myself wanting a piece of wall art featuring our sweet girl Jenna. The cut up pieces of cardboard give the piece a beautiful texture, don't they? You almost want to reach out and pet this sweet pup! The dog is named Lucy, and Golzad created the portrait for her owners.

Invisible People by Ali Golzad

Golzad is an avid craftivist, and his body of work extends far beyond dog portraits. His series Invisible People - also made using reclaimed cardboard - is meant to raise awareness about human trafficking. This excerpt from his artist's statement about the series is so powerful:

I have a strong affinity for these traumatized and abused children because when I was ten years old, I was forced to flee my native Iran due to revolution there and live as an orphan in Sweden until I was reunited with my parents three years later. To me the plight of child soldiers and children abused as sex slaves escapes notice in the civilized word which causes me to question how civilized we really are. To me, these are invisible people.

Posted:   |   Categories: Ali Golzad, Art, cardboard, cardboard art, craftivism, human trafficking, Innovation, Invisible People, upcycling
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21
Jan

Art Activism: I art as I act, and I act as I art

Art Activism: Work by Asher Jay

Artist Asher Jay talks about art activism and how she's using her creativity to change the world.

Confession: I am a big fan of my friend Asher Jay's art activism. I've written about her work before:

Jay recently gave a talk at TEDxVailWomen about art activism, what inspires her, and creative conservation. She talks about her own journey to art activism through pain and grief, and it's incredibly inspiring.

As artists and crafters, we have so much power to effect change. We can do that by choosing sustainable materials and by creating works that effect positive change. Asher Jay's work in the world of art activism is a wonderful example of how you can use your creativity to make a difference. I admire her work so much, and I loved getting to know her even better through her TED Talk.

You can check it out right here:

"Art empowers me to act in this world."

Amen, sister!

I also love what she has to say about bad design. Products like single-use plastic bottles represent the worst of bad design. Asher uses art activism to shine a light on areas where we are consumers can change our habits to make a powerful impact on the world.

What inspires you to get active? Asher can point to one salient moment: the BP oil spill. Was there a moment like that in your life?

Image Credit: Screenshot from video

Posted:   |   Categories: Activism, Art, art activism, Asher Jay, craftivism, DIY, Innovation
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21
Jan

Art Activism: I art as I act, and I act as I art

Art Activism: Work by Asher Jay

Artist Asher Jay talks about art activism and how she's using her creativity to change the world.

Confession: I am a big fan of my friend Asher Jay's art activism. I've written about her work before:

Jay recently gave a talk at TEDxVailWomen about art activism, what inspires her, and creative conservation. She talks about her own journey to art activism through pain and grief, and it's incredibly inspiring.

As artists and crafters, we have so much power to effect change. We can do that by choosing sustainable materials and by creating works that effect positive change. Asher Jay's work in the world of art activism is a wonderful example of how you can use your creativity to make a difference. I admire her work so much, and I loved getting to know her even better through her TED Talk.

You can check it out right here:

"Art empowers me to act in this world."

Amen, sister!

I also love what she has to say about bad design. Products like single-use plastic bottles represent the worst of bad design. Asher uses art activism to shine a light on areas where we are consumers can change our habits to make a powerful impact on the world.

What inspires you to get active? Asher can point to one salient moment: the BP oil spill. Was there a moment like that in your life?

Image Credit: Screenshot from video

Posted:   |   Categories: Activism, Art, art activism, Asher Jay, craftivism, DIY, Innovation
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12
Sep

Spotted: Plastic Bottlecap Rainbow Mural

mural made of plastic bottlecaps

'When the Beach Met the Bay' uses plastic bottlecaps to make a statement about plastic pollution.

Did you know that even in areas that accept plastic bottles for recycling, the bottlecap often isn't recyclable?

Isn't that crazy? That means for billions of plastic bottles, there are non-recyclable plastic caps clogging the waste stream, making recycling plants less efficient as they dig them out, and eventually filling up our landfills. If you want to find out if your area accepts plastic bottlecaps for recycling, contact your local waste management department. Some places will take the bottles with the caps on, others require that you remove the caps, and some just plain can't recycle plastic bottlecaps.

Of course, the best way to avoid this problem is to skip plastic bottles all together, but somehow those suckers tend to creep in, don't they? Artist Lisa Be decided to raise awareness about the problem of plastic bottlecaps by transforming all of that trash into a beautiful rainbow mural.

The project  - called "When the Beach Met the Bay" - came out of Project Vortex, a New York group of artists looking to shine a light on plastic pollution. It's on display in Long Beach, NY and incorporates 24,000 plastic bottlecaps that kids collected just on Long Beach.

Yep - they were able to gather 24,000 plastic bottlecaps on one single beach. I think that alone speaks volumes about the plastic pollution problem, don't you?

Image via Public Art Fund

Posted:   |   Categories: Art, craftivism, Innovation, Lisa Be, plastic bottlecap, plastic bottlecap mural, plastic bottlecaps, plastic pollution, upcycling
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12
Sep

Spotted: Plastic Bottlecap Rainbow Mural

mural made of plastic bottlecaps

'When the Beach Met the Bay' uses plastic bottlecaps to make a statement about plastic pollution.

Did you know that even in areas that accept plastic bottles for recycling, the bottlecap often isn't recyclable?

Isn't that crazy? That means for billions of plastic bottles, there are non-recyclable plastic caps clogging the waste stream, making recycling plants less efficient as they dig them out, and eventually filling up our landfills. If you want to find out if your area accepts plastic bottlecaps for recycling, contact your local waste management department. Some places will take the bottles with the caps on, others require that you remove the caps, and some just plain can't recycle plastic bottlecaps.

Of course, the best way to avoid this problem is to skip plastic bottles all together, but somehow those suckers tend to creep in, don't they? Artist Lisa Be decided to raise awareness about the problem of plastic bottlecaps by transforming all of that trash into a beautiful rainbow mural.

The project  - called "When the Beach Met the Bay" - came out of Project Vortex, a New York group of artists looking to shine a light on plastic pollution. It's on display in Long Beach, NY and incorporates 24,000 plastic bottlecaps that kids collected just on Long Beach.

Yep - they were able to gather 24,000 plastic bottlecaps on one single beach. I think that alone speaks volumes about the plastic pollution problem, don't you?

Image via Public Art Fund

Posted:   |   Categories: Art, craftivism, Innovation, Lisa Be, plastic bottlecap, plastic bottlecap mural, plastic bottlecaps, plastic pollution, upcycling
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15
Jan

Need a crosswalk? Make your own!

portable crosswalk

Let's face it: not every town is pedestrian-friendly. If you're driving, going a block or so out of your way feels like no big deal, but on foot it can be pretty frustrating to have to pass your destination just to cross the street at a crosswalk.

"Urban hacktivist" Florian Riviere made his renegade crosswalk to make everywhere he went more walkable. It's made from a reclaimed piece of carpet, and the artist says he was inspired by video games to reinvent his landscape.

This would be a super easy project to make, if you wanted to create your own pop up crosswalk. All you'd need are:

  • An old piece of carpet
  • White paint
  • Black paint, if your carpet's not dark enough
  • Masking tape

Just measure and tape off your stripes, paint them white, and you're set! If you need to use the black paint, just tape again when the white paint is fully dry, so you have clean lines on your finished crosswalk.

Of course, there is a question of safety here, right? Would motorists in your town stop for pedestrians on a makeshift crosswalk? Here in Atlanta, most drivers won't stop for me at proper crosswalks, even when there are signs that say "Stop for Pedestrians: It's the Law." But Atlanta drivers might be in a special category. How do you think this would go over in your town?

Posted:   |   Categories: Art, Cars+Tranportation, Concept+Design, craftivism, crosswalk, DIY, DIY crosswalk, hacktivism, Innovation, pedestrian-friendly, pedestrians, renegade crosswalk
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