He’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice? Turns out Santa’s been naughty too, and he and his crew get into their fair share of trouble. Just like their Halloween counterparts, these mischievous Christmas characters are up to no good, as last year’s mug shots reveal.
Filed under Christmas, recycling, toilet paper rolls
Turning recycled paper into art is a great way to give it new life. There are some amazing and inspiring examples of rolled paper art, which I have linked to at the end of this post. And while they may seem long and involved to make, small versions can be just as impressive. As long as kids can roll a strip of paper, they can create something cool to display and enjoy.
Filed under paper crafts, recycling
Artist, Cassandra Tondro, has come up with a fabulous, fun way of recycling house paint. She gives it a second life by using it to make abstract art, while at the same time, helping the environment. She’ll also be inadvertently helping you to clear out that little corner where you store your paint containers, because I can’t be the only one who hangs on to the stuff, but rarely ends up using it.
A few weeks spent going through twenty years worth of things stored in my basement, made me realize just how much crap we humans like to hang on to. I did come across a few salvageable items like these spiral obelisks, which were given a second life just in time for Halloween. A fresh coat of paint, a selection of skulls, and a nice assortment of bloody human parts did the trick.
The wonderful work of artist Tyree Guyton had to inspire a project. If you didn’t get a chance to see my last post about The Heidelberg Project, do have a look at what this artist did for his hometown in Detroit. It involved using art to reclaim the deteriorating neighbourhood he grew up in, and began with painting houses in bright colours and beautiful polka dots, and embellishing them with recycled items and found objects. They all look a bit crazy, but they all have a story to tell.
Making a crazy toy house is a great way to tell a story, and provide a space for favourite toys and characters. It’s also a fun opportunity to display older craft creations, and use up a ton of recycled bits you may have lying around.
Filed under mixed media, recycling
Hope your Halloween night was fantastic! I’m guessing by now your little ones have eagerly examined their candy stash, taken inventory, and are slowly eating their way through it. Here are a couple of ideas from the past to help you make use of your Halloween garbage:
You may have heard of a film called The Clock by artist Christian Marclay. It’s been showing in galleries and museums around the world for the past two years, and is now in Toronto. It’s the result of an ambitious two year project involving collaging and remixing thousands of images of film and TV footage, to represent every minute of a twenty- four hour period. The film is edited to be shown in real time, which means it’s 24 hours long. Crazy! I recently saw it, loved it, and found myself wanting to stay much longer than I could but…no time. In fact it was really interesting to be so engaged in something, yet constantly aware of the time, and in my case, when the parking meter would expire.
There are plenty of clips on YouTube which will give you an idea of what the film looks like. Naturally, a clock project had to come out of this, since at some point we all have to learn how to tell time.
Filed under Artists, Christian Marclay, clock, recycling
Using found objects to make art is a great way to stretch your imagination. It involves taking materials designed for one purpose and using them for another. One of the most famous examples is Pablo Picasso’s Bull’s Head, made from a bicycle saddle and handlebars. It’s such a simple and humorous idea, but someone had to think of it. The challenge here is to make a robot sculpture using only found objects in metal. Let the games begin!
Filed under Pablo Picasso, recycling, sculpture
The egg carton’s primary purpose is to escort eggs from the chicken coop to your home, where it either gets tossed in the recycling bin, or with the help of some ingenious humans, mutates into bug eyes, seed starters, sorting trays, cat beds, flowers, molds, lights, and creatures of all kinds. Finding a second life for an egg carton has never been a problem, but using it as a canvas to paint portraits and patterns on never occurred to me until I came across the work of Enno de Kroon. His “eggcubist” portraits play with the viewer’s perception, looking strangely deformed because of the peaks and valleys of his unorthodox canvas. They’re also very cool and look deceptively easy to paint. I found focussing on vibrant colours, patterns, and simple shapes worked best for children, and proved easier to execute. They’ll love the results.
Filed under Artists, egg cartons, Enno de Kroon, painting, recycling
Earlier this summer, I suggested spending some time hunting and gathering outdoors to collect items for future arts and crafts projects. This is one of those projects where you’ll be able to make use of your treasures. Many of your gathered items are typically found on the ground, only to be stepped on or tossed in the compost pile, so you may be surprised to see how this blending of nature and imagination can create some really interesting garden art.
Filed under Art and Nature, recycling, sculpture
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