For many artists using recycled materials is an aesthetic choice filled with infinite creative possibilities. It is also a responsible decision they have made because they care about sustaining our planet’s resources. Here, I share art by creative eco-conscious artists who use recycled materials in imaginative and thoughtful ways. They are Natalie Oliphant from Canada, Ana Gaines from Sweden, Nancy Calef from the U.S., and Chris Marshall from Australia.
These talented artists recently came to my attention while curating our online exhibition “Inspirational Art in Mixed Media”.
I know you will enjoy viewing their art, reading their statements, and visiting their websites to view more of their artwork and learn more about them.
Natalie Oliphant
Natalie Oliphant lives in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Her primary goal is to create stories on canvas or body forms. She uses body forms or mannequins as the basis for a wide variety of expressive tactile works of art with powerful messages, such as the piece above titled “Fertility”, about which she states, “Fertility is a devastating problem for those who can’t conceive.” She adds, “My body forms reveal the painful experience in coming of age and sexual revelation.”
About the importance of recycling Natalie explains, “I experimented with supplies to find what worked and what I could discard. I have amassed junk from many, many generous people and thrift stores. My mission is to ‘save it from the landfill’. My storage room looks kind of like a landfill but I see it as a room of treasure.”
She transforms the mannequins and states, “Anonymous since their birth in assembly line production. Discarded, the mannequins will be interred in landfills unless they can be resurrected and given their own voice. Now adorned with repurposed jewellery, purses, hardware, and recycled fabric, the mannequins reveal a new. They wear the pain of memories and human experience.” natalieoliphantart.ca
Ana Gaines
Ana Gaines is an artist who lives in Stocksund, Danderyd, Sweden. Colorful flowers, butterflies, birds, and heart shapes are a few of the many delightful forms arranged in her functional art pieces with her exquisite sense of design.
Beyond having superb aesthetic qualities, Ana’s art exudes the power of renewal. As an eco-conscious mixed media artist, she recycles objects and materials and adorns tables, trays, doors, and other three-dimensional objects using such items as glass from old windows, pieces of CD-ROMs, eggshells, in addition to pigments, inks, acrylic paint, resin and other mediums. Each one is chosen wisely to increase luminosity, reflection, depth, and texture, as well as provide preservation and durability.
Ana explains, “I want to help improve the world by recycling materials and creating new objects in the form of art with a function. For example, giving new life to old tables, trays, walls, and more.” Through Ana’s imaginative creative vision, discarded items, otherwise destined to landfills, are magically transformed, and remind us of our responsibility to safeguard our environment. As her functional art pieces — such as tables and trays — are utilized and treasured by her collectors, they offer opportunities from which new experiences can be shared and memories can be cherished. gaines.se
Nancy Calef
Nancy Calef lives in San Francisco, California, U.S. and has lived in Europe and Thailand, and traveled throughout the world. She was born in Bronx, New York, and attended the College of New Rochelle at age 15 to study painting and sculpture, after completing Bronx HS of Science. The multi-talented artist is also a certified computer animator. It’s no surprise to find computer parts in her works of art.
Nancy’s most recent works are the latest progression which involves “tearing down one or more existing works at a time, manipulating them, and then painting into the re-configured whole, adding found objects and sculpture while layering and integrating it with other canvasses.” In her whimsical interactive wood sculptures, you will discover found objects and figures that are made out of deconstructed computer monitors.
For Nancy, this creative process also served as a form of healing. She explains, “I developed this series while caring for an aunt with Alzheimers. I need to restore myself to the simplest of movement and form to cope with the trauma and support her as she declined.” nancycalefgallery.com
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall lives in Perth, Western Australia. She often begins an art project by looking around her garden “to see what I could use as mark-making tools”. She explains, I love organic markmaking, colour, texture and observing the world around me. I have fun mixing my media, creating ‘something’ out of ‘nothing’ and particularly enjoy recycling things from my everyday life onto my artworks (such as) fabrics, completed cryptic crosswords, used paper bags, etc… so that each one contains a part of my life while it evolves.
I generally use acrylics and acrylic inks in my mixed-media paintings as I love their versatility and all the mediums available plus they dry quickly. I sometimes start with an overall concept in mind but I let the painting evolve, trusting and enjoying my intuitive journey.”
Chris was also involved with management of a local Community Arts Centre and Gallery for 20 years. She believes everyone benefits from cultural and creative activities, “connecting with nature and being part of a supportive community.” marshallarts.com.au
Interesting and wonderful article. Congratulations to all artist 🙂