Saturday, April 21, 2012

Recycled Art Show


The high school art teacher learned about a Recycled Art Show and we both decided to enter our students' work. There is an outdoor and an indoor show, with the openings earlier this evening. The show was co-sponsored by the Hudson Crossing Park (located at a lock on the Champlain Canal on the Hudson River, in Schuylerville NY) and the Saratoga National Historic Park.

Here's high school seniors Caitlin and Johna with their sculpture called "Edison's Tree". It is hard to photograph, but it is a willow-type tree made completely from recycled electronics and other scrap materials.

Look hard at the photo on the right below, and perhaps you can find the hidden man (hint: he is made out of black tubing).

On the left below, a comfy recycled chair, and on the right, a piece called "the Social Alien". Note the beer can in his hand....

My favorite piece in the outdoor show:

And my favorite from the indoor show, called "Watching Copperhead"

On the left, a student piece, and on the right, an adult piece lovely in its simplicity:

On the left below, a high school piece, and on the right a fun bottle-cap piece:

There actually were several bottle-cap pieces, but my favorites were the ones where the actual STRUCTURE was made from recyclables. The bottle-cap pieces seemed like an easy gimmick.

By the way, some of my students' papier-mache cats were also in the indoor show, but you've already seen enough of them in prior posts.

One more thing - This post has taken me FOREVER. I tried desperately using the new Blogger format that showed up today, and all my photos turned sideways in different directions, and the text wouldn't go where I wanted it, and photos and text were jumping all over the place making the post unreadable and a total disaster. Photos were grouping together in haphazard fashion and wouldn't un-group; text was a mess.

You may not know this about me, but I am an editing FREAK. I do not like losing control over my layout or having posts look messy and I finally found a way to revert to the old-fashioned Blogger format and start over completely with a new post. And all my photos entered right-side up so you can now see them without having to turn your head this way and that!

Have you had better success with the new Blogger than me? Or are you equally frustrated? Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to read through this post.
My photo, Caitlin's foot.

7 comments:

  1. What wonderful pieces Phyl! Lately I have been thinking about collecting some of the "trash" that gets washed up on our beach and creating something with it. I think this was just the creative nudge I needed. As for the new Blogger...oh how I hate change! I haven't tried to post anything yet.Was it easy to revert back to the old fashioned Blogger? Thanks!

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  2. Wish we had a show like that somewhere around here -- looks like fun:) I agree with Mary -- I hate change when it means having stopping to think about how to do each little move when prior to the change everything I did was just automatic. I haven't tried posting yet, but just now trying to get back to the dashboard page from some other page took 2 or 3 clicks looking for the right path. I do not have a lot of patience for this!!! Good to know there is a way to revert to old Blogger if I decide to go that route. Right now I am giving the new system a week to see if it, too, becomes automatic. If it doesn't I may switch back, too. HAVE A GOOD WEEK-END.

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  3. Ladies, the 'revert back' was easy ONCE I FOUND IT. There were things I could do formatting-wise with the new setup that seemed nice - highlighting type with color, captioning photos, etc that were OK at first but once I tried MOVING stuff around, ordering photos, INSERTING text between photos it all went right to h****. I've never seen such an un-readable post.

    Re: the recycled show - next year I am going to submit my OWN entry!!

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  4. Phyl - I've only ever had the new blogger, and I ALWAYS have the problems with the jumping photos, putting text between pictures (always turns into a link) not having text centered, etc. I hate it!

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    1. Aly, look for the 'revert to old Blogger' or whatever it is called. There's less bells & whistles, but the payoff is (obviously) that there's also less problems. For someone who posts as often as I do, and with as many photos as I use, that's important. I will manage without the perks of the newer format to get rid of the problems.

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  5. Hi Phyl,

    I agree, new Blogger sucks (sorry, but it's true!) I am sticking with Old Blogger until they take it down :( The Recyclables Show is FANTASTIC! I will definitely try to get that going in my community when I retire as it will take a lot of work but will be well worth it. 3 comments: 1. I love the Watching Copperhead too 2:Christie, start one of these in your community-You can do it! and 3:Phyl, are you wearing Dansko's in the photo of you sitting in the chair? Love that pattern! :)

    :)Pat

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    1. A few interesting things about the recyclable show - first of all - the obvious timing/tie-in with earth day;

      Second - it was an odd mix of very professional artists with welding shops etc and amateur stuff, but they were very happy to include the students too. It's only in its second year, and only the first year of the outdoor show, so it will continue to improve I'm sure. The indoor show was at the Visitor Center at what we around here refer to as Saratoga Battlefield - just a lovely little national park that exists as a park due to its geographic significance historically.

      And third - the shoes - no they are NOT Dansko's. The brand is C&C Sweden, and I found them quite by surprise at a store that mostly sold uniforms for nurses etc several years ago, so they are meant for people who spend a lot of time on their feet. I have seriously stupid feet - short and fat with anatomical problems galore, and I've always loved wacky shoes, and these clogs are the best EVER. I don't know that they still make the design, but it was called "Color Me Comics" and they are an old-fashioned sort of comic book design. They sold markers with them but I didn't buy the markers, as the shoes were pretty pricey on their own. I colored them with Sharpies. The only problem is that you can't really clean them. Glad you like!! It's inspiring me to see what new patterns they have now.

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