Mission Statement
Are you throwing that away ?
It is my mission to make art from discarded materials, build community through artistic endeavors, inspire creative thinking and problem solving (process, process, process), introduce basic mechanical concepts (automata) to children of all ages and to connect or reconnect us to our innately creative spirit.
Why discarded materials ?
Convenience : Materials are free and readily available.
Accessibility: Students learning to work in discarded materials can go home and have access to the same materials thus they can continue to play with the concepts they have learned. Garbage is everywhere.
Learning Opportunities: We learn how a box is assembled when we deconstruct our cereal box to make shadow puppets. Using trash creates many problem solving opportunities.
Overabundance: As a society we are creating too much refuse. I believe we will face this problem when it becomes too costly to dispose of our refuse. In the meantime we can REUSE to our hearts’ content.
Building Community
When we create a performance or participate in a parade we have to work with other people who may not be a part of our daily community. The experience of working together opens our eyes to the hidden talents of the people around us, breaks down boundaries and stereotypes and challenges us to work together toward a common goal. I operate under the belief that everything we need exists within the collective group and that talent rises to the surface when stirred.
Automata
This is where I turn into a complete five-year old. Making rubber band-driven cars from water bottles or a camshaft-driven garbage circus using and old apple crate just gets me all excited. Then I have the added thrill of figuring out how to teach this to children of all ages. It is more fun than a person has a right to have.
“ I’m not very artistic”
… has to be the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard. Maybe you are not the best painter who came down the pike, but believe me, we have to be very creative in order to operate everyday. The number of creative decisions and problem-solving techniques that you employ daily are staggering. With every collaborative project, I am blown away by the talent and ingenuity delivered from people who are “not very artistic”.