Pioneering craft artists are enthusiastically embracing the ancient adage, “waste not, want not,” creating beautiful, conservation-inspired art in the process. Several of the foremost practitioners of this approach will exhibit their art at the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, DC, Apr. 26-29, 2018.
Wood artist Peter Petrochko transforms flat boards only a few inches thick into 3-D laminated wooden vessels as large as two feet deep! Using a band saw, he carves concentric wooden “rings” from a flat board, then stacks and glues the rings together to shape a large sculptural vessel. His self-invented “green technique” uses minimal amounts of wood, conserving precious forest resources for future generations.
The photos below show how, in Peter’s talented hands, a flat board becomes a sculptural vessel.
Stages in Petrochko’s construction (top, left to right): concentric wood “rings” carved from a flat 1.75” high yellow birch board; the same rings stacked; the stack shaped to form a 10.5” high vessel; (bottom) a finished vessel of another species — black cherry. Photographs courtesy of the artist.
Cecilia Frittelli and Richard Lockwood established Frittelli Lockwood Textiles in 1990 to create hand-woven textiles, contemporary clothing and accessories from natural, sustainable fibers, such as wool, bamboo, hemp and soy. Recently, the husband-wife team experimented with fiber made from waste milk. They also ingeniously incorporate scraps of fabric from one garment into the design of another so as to achieve “zero waste.”
Holly Anne Mitchell crafts jewelry from recycled newspapers, a material she values for its “aesthetic strengths, including rich textural patterns and wonderfully vivid colors.” Recycled newspaper is “eco-friendly without the environmental impact of traditional jewelry materials, such as newly-mined gold and silver,” she adds.
From left to right: Shawl woven with milk fiber by Frittelli and Lockwood Textiles; repurposed newspaper necklace by Holly Anne Mitchell; repurposed zipper jewelry by Kate Cusack. Photographs courtesy of the artists.
Kate Cusack fashions jewelry from broken zippers discarded by fashion designers. As she gives these discarded items new life, she hopes to “encourage the wearer to think twice about the world and to see beauty and potential in everything.”
These artists – and 13 other innovators – are vying for the Honoring the Future Sustainability Award, which will be presented at the opening Preview Night of the Smithsonian Craft Show on April 25, 2018. The award honors an artist whose work educates the public about climate change or inspires or models a sustainable response to climate change. See related news article.
