The Windpump that Teaches Us Innovation

by Michelle Albinson

Today was one of those days where innovation, creativeness and uniqueness were everywhere to be found, even in the living room. When looking around us, we can often find artwork everywhere. Nature is in itself an artwork, but there are also the manmade artworks. Some of these manmade artworks have a way to surprise people with how simple the idea is, how little things it takes to make and how impressive the outcome is.

Many people are creative, but many people just keep it to their own websites or homes. Yet there are those who take their talent to the streets. When driving around Johannesburg, we often find highly talented dancers, mime artists and others with rather unique talents. Innovative art can also be found in Hartebeespoort Dam, on the way there and within it at the well-visited Chameleon Village. And then.... there are those artists who dwell in the 'other' nearby towns - Parys, Sasolburg, Vaalpark and Vanderbijlpark. These towns hold unique places, events and artwork. It was in Vanderbijlpark that I found a specific little gem of inspiring innovation.

A particular man was selling a 'windpomp'; an object of admiration for several people who were taking it apart to see how he managed to create it. The main parts of the pump were simply crafted from a tin. The rest was skilfully done with strong, thick wire. The bird that is so happily sitting in front of the tap, waiting for its water, was craftily made from a fallen conifer cone (better known as a pine cone). This is an artwork that took a lot of skill and time, but little resources.

There are plenty of tins lying around and many of nature’s own little pieces, which make this a financially practical and environmentally friendly artwork. It's impossible not to have respect for the way struggling or less fortunate people can often come up with the most innovative and unique ideas. We can all learn from their resourcefulness and about how not to waste, rather using and re-using what is available to us at the time. They don’t run to the shops the moment they don’t have canvas, they create their own canvas with what they see around them.

Look for your next artwork around your house, around your street and in your dustbin. You might find your light-bulb moment in something as simple as a dirty tin and some wire. This can be considered as proof that you can never say you’re too poor to make art. Art is inventing, art is seeing potential even in unlikely places.

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Further browsing - some more links for Art from Waste:

• Watch this video of artist Mbogeni Buthelezi using plastic to create his art, featured on CCTV news.
• Such Initiative's artwork 'Tomorrow's Joy' was a large-scale public artwork created from approximately 90 200 discarded plastic bottle tops
• Too Good To Waste is a co-operative of like-mined artists and crafters utilising recycled materials

Hubcap Project

Guest Post by Viv King


The Landfillart Project is an artistic endeavor that tries to increase awareness of the amount of trash people generate.

The idea was thought up by Ken Marquis, a gallery owner and framer from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, who started a collection of old discarded hubcaps  and has spent the last three years convincing other artists from all the US states and 52 foreign countries to give old hubcaps the artistic treatment.
An article from the Huffington post tells Ken's story:

Then he (Ken Marquis) began prowling the Internet, emailing artists who caught his eye to gauge their interest. 

A typical reply, Marquis says, went something like this: "`You want me to find a hubcap in my own country and pay for that, and you want me to pay for (the materials to make) this piece of great art, and then you want me to ship it to you at my expense, and then you want me to gift it to you? Am I understanding you correctly? OK, yeah, I'm in.'"

"I've had that conversation hundreds of times," Marquis says. "Artists get it."

I was one of the artists Ken contacted and I gave him pretty much the same reply! I am an ardent supporter of recycling projects, alternative building methods,  and making use of local materials and found objects wherever possible to create works of Art.

I was born in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, which has a rich tradition of beadwork amongst the Xhosa nation, lead by the great statesman and much loved former President, Nelson Mandela.

Beads were initially used as trading in the early part of the 19th Century and have a special social and ritual significance, used for denoting gender, age and status of the wearer.

I managed to source an old VW hubcap from a second hand car dealer. No, I did not trawl the dumpsites looking for them as I knew I would not find any. Some poor soul from the townships would have got there before me and made a stove out of it or something, this being South Africa and poverty being a powerful motivator of ingenuity.

                                 
I arranged the beads in an Ndebele pattern. The Ndebele is one of the many  groupings of people in the broader Southern Africa. I liked the strong African design.

A single bead is a humble object of little significance. But when put together in numbers they make a powerful statement. Just as the small voices who are calling to save our planet from extinction, when added together become a powerful  force of change in government laws, and bring about the end of industrial pollution in the world.

Ken has collected over 1000 hubcabs. 250 of these have been selected as part of a travelling exhibition which begins its journey in a Museum in Pennsylvania and from there around the States and hopefully around the world.

I am pleased that my hubcap has been chosen, as it is a subject very close to my heart.

View other hubcaps submitted as part of the project: landfillart.org/category/gallery-of-metal-canvases

Climate and our oceans

Wow! Last week was a week to be remembered!! With the successful and inspiring commencing of the first Climate Fluency Exchange and the opening of Plastikos at the Two Oceans Aquarium, it was a week for our planet in Cape Town. Read more about the week at www.dontcopoutcopart.blogspot.com


Participants during a creative expression session reflecting on the week's talks, realizations and thought, during the final day of the first COPART Climate Fluency Exchange (image from the COPART blog)

This week don't miss the Public presentation on 14 December: Meet 5 Gyres Institute founders Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen, which will be held at 1pm at the Metropolitan Health Group and Qualsa Think Tank, Two Oceans Aquarium.

Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen (image from Two Oceans Aquarium)

I had a read this morning on Simon Bannister's blog. Here is an excerpt:

We have to move forward
It is the way
Round and round
Together we swim
Predator and prey ,
With every turn, the hunger burns
Yes and no, light and shadow.

Reflections true, in hope’s heart they flicker
The picture is complete but the pieces too many.
Scattered like dust, they swirl and fracture
shards of progress, fire moulded to desire.

These banished goods, now cast into the darkness
Broken and twisted, come back to haunt us.
Now, we gaze upon an alien world.
Poison in our spaceship dear, attacked by the virus of fear
The monster must be overcome, it’s treasure won.

Nature’s indifference, moves with the elements
Cause and reaction say, all is fair while forever at play
And where can we find common ground?
Oh yes, once more we swim around.

Read the rest on his blog: www.simontothemax.blogspot.com

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Don't miss the Hout Bay Green Faire!

Have a look at this call for participation for the Hout Bay Green Faire! This looks like it could be a lot of fun!! Get in touch with them ASAP at info@envirochild.org, 072 797 0904 or 021 790 6696 if you're interested...

Please join us to trade or participate

in the HOUT BAY GREEN FAIRE

on Sat 27 Nov

at Kronendal Primary school, Hout Bay
Please see invite attached...

We are desperately looking for artsist who can put up, or make a installation out of recycled materials on the day.

If you require any information please do not hesitate to contact us....

Tyres and clay = building a centre!

Yesterday I went with Nick Ralphs from Tierra Construction Projects to look at the earth-tyre recycling centre that they're putting up in Khayalitsha. The walls are made up of tyres, earth and hard labour. They are stacked like bricks and then earth beaten in to fill each tyre - each tyre gets about two and a half wheelbarrow's worth of earth!!

They’re doing this as an iniative with one of the major waste recyclers where they will set up a ‘swop-shop’. The concept is that they will trade defective, but usable, waste-products (like pens with the logo on skew, etc) for tins, bottles, etc. This is targeted mainly at the local schools and children. It is intended that some of the revenue generated from the collected recyclables will pay a small wage to the centre manager/ess.

Nick from Tierra, and David - the other driving force behind the project - are currently receiving no funding, and are funding the project themselves. Most of the labour is voluntary too, and this is really hard work! I am currently recruiting and looking for artists who would love to join in with the final stages of their project, when the structure and openings between the tyres will be filled with tin cans, clay and straw, and creative adornments such as mosaic added (see an example of an 'earthship' below). I believe that it's going to be a lot of fun and that this is a really worthy project to be part of.

If you want to assist in any way or can help with funding/fund-raising, contact Nick Ralphs at 021 396 2577 / 084 280 7028, or info@tierraprojects.co.za. If you're an artist and would like to get involved on the fun, creative side, then contact me, Janet, at artlovenature@gmail.com.


earthshiphomes.info

Robyn Field's Artworks from computer waste

Tracks by Robyn Field


Saturday 10am by Robyn Field


Formal Settlement by Robyn Field


Escape At Sunrise (Detail) by Robyn Field


Escape At Sunrise by Robyn Field


Cumulitive Advantage by Robyn Field

Read about Robyn Field on the Ecojunki website's creative page!

Creative Recycling - get creative!

It's the new "fashion", the new solution, the new right-thing-to-do. Using things that we usually thrown away to create things we can use and appreciate in our homes and as part of our lifestyle.

/// Lampshades, decorative flowers and baskets made from plastic bottles.

/// Cups, containers and flower vases made from empty glass bottles.

/// Sculptures, plant holders, crafts and accessories made from tin cans, milk cartons and plastic.

...and loads more!

Walk through craft shops and markets and think of ways to use plastic containers, glass, milk cartons and other reusable waste. Go to the library and get a book on crafts.

Get creative!

If you don't have the skill or know-how to do these things yourself, get someone to help you! It can be lots of fun and it could even become a weekly get together between family or friends to create new things from waste. The possibilities are endless.

Always remember to adhere to safety precautions and user instructions when working with sharp tools and also when cutting tin - wear gloves and be extremely aware and careful!

Another CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

INFECTING THE CITY 2011: TREASURE

Seeking visual artists, designers, architects for a public arts project

Infecting The City – the Spier Public Arts Festival is themed ‘Treasure’ for 2011. The main aims of ITC are to turn the communal spaces of our City into stimulating, creative, truly public spaces, and to put socially engaged performance and art on the streets where they are accessible to everybody. The Festival (21 – 26 Feb), which gets high profile in the media, will overlap with the Design Indaba and will serve as a streetwise counterpoint to that event.

‘Treasure’ takes in various realms of preciousness: the weird and wonderful performance and musical expressions that underlie the rich cultural diversity of our society and that are seldom seen outside of the communities in which they originate; our heritage sites; and the barely visible workers that make the CBD function. A variety of artists are participating in these realms.

Another of the areas that we are drawing attention to is the vast quantity of valuable resources that are trashed in the City, resources that should be recycled and put to good use. Throughout the Festival week a large scale durational art happening will take place: a selection of artists from diverse backgrounds will work with discarded recyclable materials on the Cape Town Station Forecourt – a huge paved area traversed by thousands of people everyday. We are seeking artists who would like to join this project.

On the Station Forecourt on Monday 21 Feb garbage will be delivered from 5 different socio-economic zones (e.g. Constantia, Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu, Observatory, the CBD). In advance we will have approached citizens in the 5 selected areas and mobilized them to sort their garbage into recyclable components for 2 weeks or so.

Hence we will get 5 lots of garbage that speak to the demographics of consumption and wastage, kind of like an archaeological / anthropological dig into cross-sectional sectors of contemporary Cape Town society. It should provide material for interesting observation and commentary: who uses what; what does it say about lifestyles, diets etc? These demographic ‘Slices of Life’ will comprise mounds of glass, hard plastics, soft plastics, paper, metal etc.

We are putting together a collective of 6 - 8 artists from different backgrounds and with different skills to intervene with the assembled matter. The artists can tackle whatever material they like, sometimes in collaboration with one another, sometimes individually. Turning the 25-odd piles of waste into individual works over the course of the week.

The concept for this intervention is still in development. We aim to build a nuanced, punchy, intelligent framework that is accessible and stimulating to people from all walks of life. As one of the artists working on this intervention we would require you to do some preparation. It is important that the creations made out of this junk are rooted in rich conceptual ground, that they speak to concerns and critiques about our wasteful lifestyles. We are linking up with COPART – a collective of local artists and activists working around issues of climate change and holistic modes of living – and are exploring how best to make this resource available to the participating artists.

As a participant you’ll have the opportunity to get out of your studio and make provocative, socially-engaged works for 5 ½ days with a bunch of creative people on a public square with the mid-February sun smiling upon you; to engage with spectators and curious passersby; to be part of a buzzing, ground-breaking festival; and to be paid for the privilege. Are you up for it?

If this appeals to you please contact me with a CV by Friday 22 October.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Brett Bailey

Curator: Infecting The City

Email: brettbailey@thirdworldbunfight.co.za

SUCH amazing work!

Newly formed eco-art organization Such Initiative has launched “Tomorrow’s Joy”; a 100m2 recycled plastic bottle top mosaic, at Mary Fitzgerald Square on 18th September 2010. The 7 x 14m public artwork has been commissioned by Arts Alive and was made in conjunction with 8 community centers (including approximately 140 children and disabled adults) and 31 crafters from Johannesburg.

The artwork was made in 10 weeks beginning during the World Cup. It aims to use public art as a vehicle to learning about recycling and eco consciousness. Through the collection, cleaning, sorting and weaving of discarded plastic bottle tops, participants got a hands-on understanding of the value of recycling and the power of art. Such Initiative wanted to determine academically the shift in thinking and commissioned a social scientist and an environmental art education expert to investigate the lessons learnt by the participants. The findings from these reports show a clear change in their perceptions regarding waste. The reports are available www.suchinitiative.org.

The artwork is on display until 20 October 2010. The entire artwork can be recycled and is available for sale.

Such Initiative is a collaborative arts organization started by artists Usha Seejarim and Hannelie Coetzee. Their mission is to change perceptions through eco-conscious public art.

It's going to be a fun green weekend!

The "Nature-minded Expression" event for the 350 Work Party event on Sunday is self-regulated, self-initiated and self-managed. You as artist or performer are fully responsible for your own 'piece'. The venue is the Celebrate Life festival which will be held at the River Club in Observatory, Cape Town. Remember that a strict No-Trace, No-Harm policy is being adhered to, so leave no trace, mark or residue and also do no harm to people, festival stalls, property or the area. Other than that, have fun and create awareness!!

Also remember to wear GREEN!



PLEASE HELP!

I need your help and participation for Saturday and especially Sunday! We're setting up a small space where people can join in and make things from 'waste materials' especially empty plastic bottles, milk cartons and other food packaging. So what we need is the following:

- You, please commit an hour or more of your time
- Tools like scissors and pliers
- Lots of creative ideas
- And of course any materials that you think we can use!

Please contact ecojunki@gmail.com - your help is needed to make this a success!

For more info on the festival
www.celebratelife.co.za



HUMANEARTH Exhibition #1

If you missed the HumanEarth Brainstorming session at Greatmore Studios in Woodstock, don't worry, you can still participate in the first exhibition! Planned to open on 27 November 2010 in Cape Town, this exhibition will feature new as well as existing work by local artists focused around human interaction with our planet. Send your information, ideas or images of your art to Nastasha Daniels at nastasha797@gmail.com.

Clocks from electronic waste

BLOCKS CLOCKS

The eWaste Dropoff facility in Claremont, down Lansdowne road in Cape Town, processes electronic waste like old computers in a responsible manner. They also make Blocks Clocks which make unique and funky gifts! These Blocks Clocks are 99% recycled material i.e. Perspec = recycled plastic as well as using old PC harddrives and mother boards.

Have a look at their website or contact them at er.ewaste.rescue@gmail.com

For all the Gauteng people!

Click here for bigger image

12 September at Muizenberg Village Festival!

Please join at the Ecojunki participation space on the festival day! Bring waste materials and join us in being creative ;-) The details:

Muizenberg Village Street Festival!
Sunday 12 September 2010
10am - 5pm

Muizenberg Village, Palmer & Church Street, Muizenberg


If you have the time and energy to help out with the festival decor, this also promises to be lots of fun and you'll meet interesting, inspiring people! Here's the opportunities that Claire Homewood emailed to people a few days ago:

Fri 3rd Sept and Fri 10th Sept:
Elizabeth is the lovely lady running Friday afternoon programs at The Melting Pot with kids from Lavender Hill and Capricorn Park who are part of the Africa Sinomusa Foundation. The kids come to Muizenberg for an afternoon of arts, crafts and musical play.They are also given lunch sponsored by Woolworths.

For the next two Fridays we are going to combine their activities with decor making. So if you are keen to get involved in paper mache', paint, sewing of flags and loads of creative fun please come join us!!

Sat 11th (the day before the festival)
We will continue with decor making and signage making from 10am outside Roots Bar

Please bring along:
Newspapers
Useful recycling materials
brushes
fabrics
bits and crafty pieces

All help will be greatly appreciated!
more info contact Claire 074 3485744 or Elizabeth 072 6544788

We had a small presentation at the Atlantic Seaboard Greendrinks at the Cape Creative Exhibition on 13 July and it proved to be a lot of fun. The aim was to give a basic idea of what Ecojunki stands for, and also offer ways in which you could green your creative practice, whether it be painting, making jewelery, making functional objects or any other creative form. After the talk and powerpoint presentation, tools and materials were given to all the attendees and were given the opportunity to make something from things that we would usually just throw away. This resulted in some really funky and interesting designs such as a belt with a Lion matches box as the buckle, a bird in a nest, a small handbag pouch and a hanging wall organizer!

Here is some basic tips and suggestions in greening your art or creative practice:

• Due to the massive carbon impact of emissions from airplanes, inform buyers outside of Cape Town or South Africa that products are shipped, mule-driven and hand given, and NOT airmailed.
• Do not wrap products in plastic - rather use re-usable, recycled or re-used packages. Make the container part of the product, and something that can be used again, and add value to your product! Also encourage buyers to recycle or re-use all packaging and containers.
• Re-use bubblewrap and when it’s worn out, use it as one of the base materials for a sculpture (along with paper mache you could make amazing things)!
• Don’t always use new wood in your art and for framing, but rather try use driftwood from beaches and off-cuts that are usually thrown away.
• Whenever possible, use packaging from consumer items, found objects, plastic and other materials usually deemed useless and bound to land up on dumps.
• Whenever and where possible use eco-friendly, bio-degradable alternatives to all materials and products:
  - Recycled paper
  - low VOC-inks
  - eco-friendly water based paints and glue
  Many stores and suppliers now offer eco-friendly alternatives, or can easily order. Or make your own!! Google for paint and glue recipes.
• Be careful about how you dispose of your waste water after painting
• Try use the off cuts and ‘waste’ that you produce in another new artwork
• Recycle whenever you can. There are services in Cape Town that collect recyclable waste from your studio
• Instead of buying palettes and mixing bowls, use packaging plastics and jam jars.

…there are SO many ways. Start looking for ways to be more eco-friendly in your art and you’ll be surprised about what you’ll realize!

Come and have fun. Be creative!

Join us at the Atlantic Seaboard Greendrinks on 13 July!

Greendrinks is an informal and comfortable gathering of people who discuss ways of doing things differently in order to tackle environmental issues.

I would love for you to bring some examples of eco-friendly art/craft/design if you have, or otherwise just join in and start creating something right there! If you don't want to participate hands-on on that night, then please join for the open discussion about environmentally conscious creative work.

We start at 18h00 at the Cape Creative Exhibition at 37 Main Road, Green Point.

Change of season

I know I've been very quiet and that it seems like nothing's been happening. But things are actually still on a roll. I'm looking for some eco-enthusiastic writers to contribute to the Ecojunki blog and keep everyone updated on what's green and happening. In the meantime I've got empty milk cartons piling up and I'll soon figure out what I want to create with them in order to recycle or repurpose them.

While on the subject of repurposing - check out Recreate, started by Katie Thompson! Recreate repurposes old suitcases, cans and all kinds of throw-away articles into quirky and pretty decor items like chairs, end tables, candlestick holders and clocks! See some images on www.recreate.za.net and be sure not to miss seeing some of Recreate's very creative furniture and decor items at The Fringe Art Store and Wessel Snyman Creative in Cape Town during May.



The Fringe Arts Store is in the City Hall, Darling Street, Cape Town until 14 May, and Wessel Snyman Creative is at 17 Bree Street in Cape Town, where Recreate will be featured and exhibited from 4-29 May.