Designers invited to enter AMP’s Recycled Runway show

WINSTED — The American Mural Project has announced the return of its popular Recycled Runway event and is accepting applications for designers.

Recycled Runway 2023 is a runway show and exhibit featuring unique garments and outfits made by community members from recycled, unconventional materials that might otherwise end up in the trash.

AMP’s Recycled Runway 2023 will culminate in an event that showcases the resulting wearable art Saturday evening, Oct. 21, in AMP’s mural exhibit space, 90 Whiting St.

To raise money for charity, amateurs and professionals alike are invited to step up to the creative challenge of designing original, wearable art to be presented — either personally or via a model — on the catwalk at the event, and/or as part of a monthlong exhibit.

Individuals and teams will go thread-to-thread for a chance to raise the most money in support of a cause of their choosing, as well as AMP’s education programs.

Each accepted participant will have their own webpage on AMP’s Recycled Runway website, which will show images of the work in progress, the finished ensemble, and the cause for which they have chosen to raise funds.

Each designer will have the opportunity to share their personal weblink in advance of the show to encourage friends and family to vote for their design and donate to their cause.

Participating designers are required to build wearable pieces made of at least 75 percent recyclable and/or trash-rescued materials. Options may include textile scraps, landfill recyclables, discarded toys and game pieces, packaging materials and food containers, construction scraps, plastic bags, and bottle caps.

Participants’ applications are due Aug. 16. Early applications are strongly advised, due to the overwhelming response received for this event in 2019, according to AMP.

The AMP Recycled Runway Committee will review all applications as they are received. The individual designer web pages will go live and the period for voting/donating will start in early September. Following the Oct. 21 event, selected designs and ensembles will be on display as part of a month-long exhibit at AMP. Information about tickets for the culminating Recycled Runway show in October will be announced soon.

“People have been clamoring for the return of this event since we first hosted the sold-out runway show in 2019,” said Amy Wynn, AMP’s executive director. “We had over 35 designers who constructed more than 40 extraordinary outfits for that event.

“The Recycled Runway aims to tap the creative juices of both amateur and professional designers, challenging them to make wearable art from discarded items, while bringing attention to the importance of reducing waste and recycling,” she said. “This year’s event aims to raise money, for both AMP and the designers’ chosen causes, well before we celebrate together during the actual runway show in October.”

Visit americanmuralproject.org/runway for participant guidelines, application, and required forms.

For more information, contact abigail@americanmuralproject.org.

Launched in 2001 by artist Ellen Griesedieck, AMP is home to the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the world — a three-dimensional mural, 120 feet long and five stories high. The mural is a tribute to American workers and highlights what has defined the country over the last century. It seeks to inspire, to educate, to invite collaboration, and to reveal to people of all ages the many contributions they can make to American culture.

More than 15,000 children and adults have helped create pieces of the mural, which is housed in one of two former mill buildings on the AMP campus on Whiting Street in Winsted.

Programming is offered to schools and teachers, after-school partnerships, summer enrichment sessions, and an apprentice-style internship program.

The exhibit is open Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sundays, noon-5 p.m.