Turning trash into cash is an art form.
In this case, it’s fine art.
Hundreds of dollars in prize money is up for grabs in Comox Valley Community Arts Council’s annual Trash Art Challenge, coming up Friday.
“We’re challenging one and all to make a statement and create a piece – large, medium or small – for this show,” says show co-ordinator Lori Kenney, an artist who is also working on a piece for the show.
All entries must be constructed from materials recycled from a previous use.
“The theme of this year’s challenge is ‘functional,’ “ she said. “The idea is to innovate, embellish, assemble, reuse, reinvent, salvage and or construct objects for the home environment with recycled materials.”
There is a $200 prize for the Best Environmental Message and smaller prizes for other categories, including:
• Creative use of materials;
• Form and design;
• Functionality;
• Audience choice.
Arts Council board member Bobby Herron says that while the show is also a fundraiser for the Arts Council’s Muir Gallery on Anderton Avenue (where the show runs Feb. 4 to 25), the point of the event is two-fold.
“Here’s an opportunity to look at what we throw away in a new light, while participating in a creative community project,” he said. “It’s the ultimate recycling experience. All the materials you need to create something wonderful are there in your trash.”
A number of artists are already stepping up to the challenge. Kenney thinks this year might top last year’s inaugural Trash Art Challenge, which saw 45 entries, all on a mask theme.
“This is art for everyone,” said Kenney. “The material is the message.”
She says the creative entries people come up with “can be very zany. It’s a lot of fun. I loved it when a little old lady was looking at the pieces and I heard giggles.”
Creating art from garbage is a “very organic process” with fun results, she said. “It’s an opening for the imagination.”
She also noted the show fits well with the Arts Council’s mandate to “facilitate and animate the arts in the Comox Valley … promoting the Comox Valley as a creative and dynamic arts-producing centre.”
The show opens Friday at 7 p.m. at the Muir Gallery at 440 Anderton Avenue. The works will be for sale at the gallery.
— Comox Valley
Community Arts Council