In our disposable society trash is something we find almost everywhere
we go because we make more of it each day. Do you ever wonder what
we do with it? Most of us forget about it once we throw it out, some
of us recycle it, and some of us do something entirely different.
GreenWorks found five artists who place trash in a new context, and
use their expanded imaginations to create works of art that range
from simple earrings to elaborate homes.
Follow the links below to learn more about Environmental Art:
Randall Cleaver
Neil
Benson
Warren
Muller
Marcie
Gehring
Angelo
Ciotti
“One of the things that I like about found objects is
that on their surface there is a history.
I like the dings and I like the rust.”
 Randall
enjoys being able to reuse pieces and giving them a new life. He finds
free art material on the street all the time and is always surprised
by the items people throw out in their trash. He’s known for
being the most punctual man in Philadelphia and as a result favors
creating interesting clocks from found objects. He hopes that people
who experience his art will see what they throw away in a different
form and view the ordinary as something extraordinary.
Randall’s collection includes pieces made from waffle makers,
gas masks, vacuum cleaner canisters, toasters, circuit boards and
airplane parts. He used circuit boards to create dynamic table lamps
due to the fascinating colors he saw the first time he held them to
light. He generally gets his inspiration for pieces while going around
looking for trash on his bicycle.
 
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 Randall
Cleaver
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“I don't feel as if I have stuff, I feel that stuff has me.”
 Ironically
Neil’s original motivation for starting to create works of art
from trash resulted from an urge to clean out his basement. Instantly
he was hooked and now his home is a haven for treasured pieces of
junk. He organized a group called the ‘Dumpster Divers’
who are basically a group of artists who work with used materials
and refer to themselves as fishermen in the trash stream. Their motto:
“your trash is our cash.”
Neil is known for turning
old typewriter keys into earrings and bracelets, license plates
into photo albums and suitcases, olive oil cans into mini toy trucks,
cameras into lamps, the cup part of spoons into lockets, and the
handle part of spoons into picture frames. He has a clear idea of
our trash stream and realizes that we don’t really throw out
our garbage; instead, we just move it around creating a trash tsunami.
He believes his work is a political statement that encourages people
not to waste resources and instead transform them so we can salvage
our society.
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“Putting light inside an object and seeing how it could be
transformed is exciting to me.
The glow of it really attracted me.”
 Warren’s
work centers around lighting and the use of found objects as a source
for illumination. His gorgeous studio is home to hundreds of unique
lights created with an imaginative mind. He is proud of his ability
to see how a piece of trash can be transformed and how space is created
from light. People have contracted him to take grandma’s glassware
and turn it into a chandelier while others just drop off their stuff
because they don’t want it to end up in a landfill.
He uses old and new, valuable and seemingly useless things; but once
he connects them he creates a new object. An example is an old wooden
crate filled with glass soda bottles. Warren brought the crate to
life just by adding lights to the bottles. Ladders and old tools have
been used as well as a variety of objects that we use and dispose
of regularly each day.
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Warren
Muller
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“Life is a sensation of dimension, color and texture.”
 Marcie
moved into a ‘recreated’ house that was made by the imaginative
Carl Abell. The home is a tremendous example of how reusing materials
is an effective and efficient way of building especially in today’s
age. The flooring in her home came from an old barn, the cabinets
from a hospital, the railings from a bank and more. Her home is a
colorful, vibrant display that brings out one’s childlike nature
while showing that something so different can be functional and fun.
Marcie’s specialty is reviving abandoned chairs. After hours
of work, the chair no longer looks like it once did…dirty, out
of style, or torn. Instead, eye-popping colors or flowery covers and
shiny buttons draw your attention. She also gathers paper to make
lampshades, arranges pens to make people, uses tarps to make canvases
and more. She loves the good feeling she gets from bringing these
items back to life and finds even more satisfaction when she hears
people say, “I can do that, what do you use?”
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“I can’t pass a dumpster without looking in it. No matter
how dressed up I am,
I have to climb that ladder and peek over the edge.”
 Angelo
specializes in making things live again within the environment. He
transforms land that has been damaged by industry using vegetation
on the landscape like a painter uses paint on a canvas. He took his
craft and decided to make a home that would flow into the earth. He
feels as though he created an organic living space that is constantly
growing. This growth enhances his family’s connection with heaven
and earth.
He quickly realized, while building the space, that reusing other
people's trash was an inexpensive source of materials. He now has
a ready made house from what people throw away. He saved flooring,
cabinets, and insulation and found scrap lumber to make steps, turned
car windows into tabletops, and his prize find (now a dining room
table) came from a huge piece of window glass that broke during transport
to a corporate executive’s office.
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GreenWorks:
Rough Terrain — Found Objects at the Noyes Museum
GreenWorks:
Radio — ReCreation/Recreation
GreenWorks:
Choose to Reuse — Junk Sculptor
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