Art from Rubbish by Michelle Reader
Fox recycled art sculpture by Michelle Reader
Since 1997, Michelle Reader has been working to make recycled materials into sculptures, often incorporating mechanical elements such as the working parts of toys and clocks. Her materials come from city dumps, roadsides, and thrift shops, and include both household and industrial waste. “I love the unpredictability of found materials and enjoy the inventiveness necessary to transform them into a sculpture,“ she says. “I try wherever possible to use materials that are reclaimed, things with a history that have been discarded and might otherwise end up in landfill.“
Seven Wasted Men recycled art sculpture by Michelle Reader
Perhaps her most famous work is this family portrait, known as “Seven Wasted Men,“ that was made from one month of household waste from the family. “The materials not only highlight a need to address the amount of waste each of us produces, but also tells the story of each individual through the things they discard“”a child“™s drawings, a shopping list, a birthday card,“ she says. via Jill Harness/mental_floss
How does she do it? We should have artists across the country using this approach to art, we’d have smaller landfills.
totally agree with you, Solna! of course, we all need to take this creative reuse approach into our everyday lives, and rethink our purchasing. Manufacturers need to be given greater incentives to stop the planned obsolescence of consumer goods; artists alone are not going to solve all of our landfill problems!!