People in England generate almost 100 million tons of rubbish every year, so artists do important work, to help use it up. It’s not very creative to visit Hobbycraft, buy a load of overpriced plastic tat, then take it home to call it ‘art’. Real art is about using up reclaimed materials to make into something beautiful. And helping to reduce the world’s trash mountain.
It’s not good to upcycle some materials. Pallets need rusty nails removed. Never take pebbles from the beach (illegal in Italy) as this disturbs ecosystems and causes floods. And don’t buy items not thought through (for instance, upcycled tin birdhouses in bright colours cause birds to overheat and attract predators – buy birdhouses from RSPB).
beautiful Cornish art (from junk mail)
Junk Mail Art offers beautiful unique collage art prints of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The difference is that this one-woman company makes everything from ripped-up magazines and junk mail that she receives from local people in the community, to stop it going to landfill. For this reason, every piece of art is unique, and you can also buy lovely greetings cards to send to loved ones.
The landscape of these islands is wild and free. So this is a nice way to pretty up a wall, and save paper from landfill at the same time. If you’ve ever visited a landfill, know that horrible smell is from methane, the gas that is emitted from rotting paper. This in turn is fuelling the climate change crisis. So the less ‘virgin’ (new) paper that we use, the better. Try to remember things in your head! If you can’t, then buy 100% post-consumer paper notepads if you can. Less paper to landfill – and the trees will thank you!
flower bouquets (from littered plastic bottles)
Aimee Maxelon creates beautiful ‘bouquets’ of flowers, made from littered plastic bottles, cut and shaped by hand and coloured with homemade dyes (may fade over time). Ideal for everlasting flowers if you don’t have a garden, or if you can’t have real flowers due to allergies or pets. Made from littered
For real bouquets, learn of unsafe flowers to display near pets – even brushing a tail against can harm). Avoid facing indoor foliage to gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
