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

Telephone Cord Sheep

by Artist Jean Luc Cornec

Museum of Communications in Auckland, New Zealand

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Artist Feature: Galia Gluckman

written by Chelsea Amór Lotz 

Galia Gluckman is well known for her vibrant, cutting edge, yet decidedly tasteful eco art. Born in Israel, but living and having spent her childhood in Cape Town, this young artist has taken the world by a storm with her eco artworks, made from 95% recycled cardboard and paper. Galia, who is primarily inspired by the earths beautiful landscapes and the colours and textures that go with it, uses a process of going through old magazines, finding colors that match and assembling them to create a master piece. Her motivation as she clearly states is ‘Order, arising from disorder’.

 

Galia explains in her own words:

“Pattern, whether in nature or art, relied upon three characteristics: A unit, repetition and a system organization. I question how these regular and irregular patterns develop and what sort of rules and guidelines shape patterns in the world around us. It seems as though order arises spontaneously from disorder and that patterns can emerge through a process of self-organization. Many irregular patterns are simply not random, they often display an underlying structure.”

Galia has been featured by a host a various magazines, such as: The Oprah Magazine, Good Taste magazine and The Guardian amongst many other publications. Her work proves that eco art can be attractive and aesthetically pleasing, as well and kind to the environment!

Threads of plastic

These pieces of plastic were picked up in a stretch of beach of only about 7 meters in Bloubergstrand! Plastic debris and bags cause sea animals and birds to suffocate, and they also don't biodegrade, just break up into smaller bits of plastic which gets eaten by fish, birds, dolphins and whales. Have a look at this great ad that illustrates my point:

A great way to use plastic is to use it as rope or thread. Simply tear or cut it into strips, twirl or roll them into useable strands, and knot them together.



In this way, I've started using plastic in crochet pieces:



I learnt how to crochet when I joined in some sessions of The Woodstock Art Reef Project. WARP is crocheting a symbolic installation of sculptural coral reef structures to extend the awareness of environmental issues and related aspects of science, math and art within the  community of participants and in public forums.




Go to artreefproject.ning.com to find out more about the next gatherings and sessions


Yet another way to use strips of plastic grocery bags in a functional manner