Earth Day Art Work
"We don't see this as trash we see it as treasure."-->By: Stephen Bond
Updated: April 18, 2012
"We don't see this as trash we see it as treasure." For the past eight years sculpture space artist have enhabited empire recycling looking for materials to create art and it all started with a professor at Pratt. Daniel Buckingham says, "This is an upcycling experience, it means things that had a previous existence get reinterpreted and have an upcycled new identity. It's all about creativity, the soul and the mind taking this thing on a new adventure."
This has become an earth day tradition for both empire recycling and sculpture space and the idea is apropos given the holiday it's linked with. Interim Executive Director Monika Burczyk says, "I think it's completly fitting because the idea is that we're aware of our waste, we're aware of how we view junk, aware of how we view treasure and especially in the contemporary art world."
The artists will piece together discarded aluminum, steel and copper into finished works and to them it's an honor to be working with these materials. Buckingham added, "This is where you're going to find all the 20th and 21st century things that are produced in industry and reorganized in a recycled fashion, we don't see this as trash, we see this as treasure." Artist Judith Hoffman added, "A total honor to get to do something like this for earth day. And to dovetail both art practice and community involvement and environmental sustainability it's awesome,"


