Environmental waste motivates artwork
Two artists who create eclectic art objects from environmental waste hope to bring about awareness and action through their exhibition at Parker Gallery, Judith Ritchie reports.
Through their art work, Sally Reynolds and Maggy Johnston ask the question: ‘‘What are we doing with our planet?’’ There’s a sense of urgency about their message and they want to invite people on board.
‘‘We can’t just say it’s too hard; if we all work together it’s doable,’’ Johnston says. ‘‘By making work that is playful we want to intrigue, to delight our audience, and respectfully bring awareness.’’
Both collect what other people have discarded from boats, from car windows, or dumped while walking. They have independently collected masses of detritus from walks at Ruby Bay beach and long distance running at Rough Island.
‘‘If you have to bend over to pick up other people’s rubbish, it makes you think about what you do with your own rubbish,’’ Reynolds says. ‘‘I think we can all make a difference otherwise it just gets back into the sea where fish ingest it.’’
For the past six years, Reynolds has collected rubbish off Ruby Bay beach while walking her dog. This was photographed daily for the 100 Day Project, which requires one project to be completed each day for 100 days.
Reynolds titled her project 100 Days of Beach Plastic. These works are now part of her mixed media series in Life Saver at the Parker Gallery.
‘‘Life Saver is about everyone being aware, stopping to think about what we throw away and what we buy as well,’’ Reynolds says.
Other works include Beach Cleaners, brightly coloured brushes made from fishing net, unravelled ropes, a child’s spade handle, while the hand stitched wall work Ticket to Infinity was made from parking meter dockets found washed up on the beach.
Maggy Johnston has been working on themes of transforming plastic waste into attractive sculptural works for some time now.
‘‘I highlight the huge amount of plastic that is used in today’s society and the fact that most of this material ends up polluting the environment or is buried in landfill sites.’’
Johnston believes that women have traditionally been the nurturers and innovators, who care about the environment and take small steps to impact in big ways. She uses women’s traditional craft techniques of knitting and crochet to create art works made from discarded materials; plastic bags, electrical cabling and rubber inner tubes.
‘‘I want to recycle, transform and re-use, so it slows that process down,’’ Johnston says. ‘‘Hopefully it will change the way we consume and throw away.’’
A wall of colourful knitted teddy bears, upon closer inspection, reveals they are knitted from discarded plastic bags. So Cute? features individual bears, with names including Pack’n’Save Bear and Farmer Ted, each made from 20 commercial plastic shopping bags.
Johnston has also created a Facebook page titled Knitted Plastic Teddy Bears, with video instructions for people to knit their own plastic bag teddies.
‘‘I’m inviting women to create teddies, it’s going to be a huge groundswell,’’ Johnston says. ‘‘People will take the message out into the community and do something with it; it’s a catalyst for change.’’
Johnston doesn’t want her art to preach; she wants it to be quirky and approachable.
‘‘I chose teddies, knowing how most people like them, but in this instance, they’re knitted from what we discard,’’ Johnston says. ‘‘This way it really highlights the depth of the issue.’’
Johnston’s materials include rubber inner tubes, with works titled Safety Valve I and II, each sphere resembling a small bomb, with brass valves projecting out from the centre.
Amongst the pleasantness of the artist’s bright works, there is a timely reminder of the sheer amount of waste we collectively create. A Waste of a Summer, a Summer of Waste, comprises a large block of compressed rubbish. Now the size of a blue recycle bin, it was originally a trailer full of rubbish, which included jandals, plastics, metals, boat rubbish, all found on the beach at Rough Island.
‘‘It’s the ugly ugly face of rubbish, it’s what rubbish really is’’ Johnston says. ‘‘I want to needle people to think, grow, to change, but not head butt them into it.’’
Life Saver opens with guest speaker, Green Party candidate Matt Lawrey, tonight at 5.30pm.
Life Saver, Sally Reynolds and Maggy Johnston, Parker Gallery, 90 Achilles Ave, Nelson. Opens tonight 5.30pm, all welcome, to June 15. Across the Land, group show. Sculpture by Michael MacMillan.
Super Heroes Version 3.0, works by Phill Sigglekow, ends tomorrow. Trulove, to June 3. Juilana Paintings by Joan Harkess. Da Vinci Robots & Machines, to August 13.
Jane Sussmilch, Marilyn Andrews, Rachel Waddy, by appointment. Life Saver, opens tonight, 5.30pm, all welcome. Georgie Hoby Scutt. Cloudscapes,