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Tag Archives: art
Green Easter Baskets
Easter is fast approaching and with it comes our drive to buy, buy, buy our kids more mindless junk. This year instead of buying them a ton of stuff that will break in two seconds, why not take some time … Continue reading
Posted in eco-friendly products, Family, Giveaways, Kids, organic, Toys
Tagged art, eco-friendly art supplies
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The Death of Cassettes — Upcycled Tapes Become Incredible Sculptures
Have you ever wondered whatever happened to all of those old tapes people used to have?? Well, it seems like cute little wallets aren’t the only things that really creative people are making out of them! Check out the work of Brian Dettmer. It’s absolutely amazing what he’s managed to make from these items that most people would consider a useless relic of the past. Except for my husband that is. For whatever reason, he loves old tapes and insists on playing them all the time!
These intricate sculptures are made without any glue or tape to bind them together. The pieces are made up only of the casette tape case and tape itself in some cases. The pieces are a metaphor for a dying breed of analog media in an ever increasing digital era. The thought struck him one day as he saw a dead bird lying on the road. He pondered the idea that what used to be alive was now irretrivably lost with all that remains was it’s physical, solid form. The metaphor became a reality in 2005 when he began sculpting the bones of the dead from the dead form of analog.
The skull of the ram shown above is made of altered cassette tapes melted together. Nothing but the cassette tapes themselves were used in these pieces. The artist has only revealed that he molds the pieces with wet hands and melted tapes. The exact process of the art form itself remains a mystery. I can only begin to imagine the time and energy it has taken to make some of his pieces.
This is especially true for his most intricate sculpture to date. The skeleton is made up of over 180 individual cassettes. It is amazingly true to form and instantly recognizable as the human skeletal system. Mr. Dettmer has made a series of skulls of different themes. There are 12 in the series with the one shown here being a 80′s metal theme. Notice that the tape around the skull’s mouth is Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil. I too was once called a metal head! It’s good to see artist’s with a sense of humor as well as the creativity that is required to repurpose everyday items into extraordinary art. This work is an example of upcycling at it’s finest!
Posted in art
Tagged art, casette tape case, cassette tapes, sculpture, upcycled cassettes
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Upcycled Tires
Looking for a way to re-use your tires without having a tire swing or tire sandbox? Check out some of Betsabee Romero‘s work! These carved used tires give a whole new meaning to the word upcycle. This is definitely taking something of little to no value (used tire) and giving it a substantially increased value (art!).
These carved tires are pretty cool all on their own but as this picture shows, can also be used to create more art as stamps! Talk about reuse, reuse, reuse! These tires could really be used as many times as you’d like to as stamps which gives them a much longer lifespan. You could use them for all sorts of things to making artistic prints for the walls to using them to make some creative and beautiful giftwrap. Hopefully you’d be using recycled paper to make it though…
This artist doesn’t stop at just tire carving though, her work includes much more in the way of reusing old car parts.
These car wheels have been decorated with dried roses and feathers to make them statements on consumption, cars, Western society as well as art, recycling, and environmental friendliness.
These Volkswagen Beetle hoods have been painted into murals showing the car driving through incredible scenery. These pieces definitely show that “junk” is not always what it seems to be. You can turn trash into treasure with some creativity, imagination, skill and artistic vision!
Posted in art, Recycling
Tagged art, Betsabee Romero, car part art, carved tires, upcycled tires, used tire art, Volkswagen Beetle art
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Everyday Art: Cool Door Handles
Everyday Art: Cool Door Handles
Imagine a world where even the most ordinary, mundane object is transformed into something extraordinary. These door handles will give you a glimpse at just such a world.
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People with Too Much Time on Their Hands: Money Origami
People with Too Much Time on Their Hands: Money Origami
Creativity is sometimes born in moments of utter boredom. Origami has been around for centuries but have you ever seen money origami? Continue reading
People with Too Much Time on Their Hands: Toast Art
People with Too Much Time on Their Hands: Toast Art
It’s amazing what people will do when they have lots of spare time. I recently discovered an entire new category of art, that of Toast Art.
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Artistic Recycling
Lately I’ve become really interested in how some artists are turning one person’s trash into another person’s treasure. I’ve written 8 articles so far on this concept and will surely write more. The idea of turning garbage into an art medium is so creative that you cannot help but fall in love with the idea even if you aren’t artistically inclined yourself. In a world that seems to be overflowing with garbage, this idea of a sustainable source of artistic material has come of age. Check out the links below if you want to see some pics of what I mean! 
Artistic Recycling: Five Interesting Maps
How does society view the object that it throws away in comparison to the object it treasures? Upcycling is changing people’s minds and hearts when they stop to reconsider what is “garbage”. 
Artistic Recycling: Incredible Upcycled Dresses
This is the sixth article in my “Artistic Recycling” series, which highlights creative ways to reuse what most people would throw away and transform it into objects of great value. This article features paper dresses of Susan Stockwell. Continue reading
Peter Gibon – Street Art
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Peter Gibson (aka Roadsworth) began painting street art in Montreal in 2001 and was eventually arrested and charged with 53 counts of mischief. While he could have gotten heavy fines and a criminal record he got a relatively lenient sentence, which he attributes to public support. He has since recieved numerous commissions for his work.
Check out the Wooster Art Collective
I have always liked the Wooster Art Collective. They often have some pretty neat urban art. Check it out. Who knows, I might even get my cousin John to join!
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Art my ass!
This guy is hysterical. He is, or should I say WAS, a teacher. That’s right. A teacher! This is the sort of person that we want molding our children. “Stan Murmur” is not his real name, shockingly! I hear he’s got videos of his um, “creative process” on YouTube. I think I’ll pass on watching that. I’m not sure I’d care if this guy turned out to be Kris’ teacher, he was an art teacher after all. They’re supposed to be creative and eccentric aren’t they? He’s suing for being fired, of course. It’s just so, so, so funny! I love the story I listed below about how he started out too. This guy is a genius! Absolutely love it!
“A few years ago I had a painting assignment. I was told to find an organic item to use as a stamp. The stamp was to be brought into class with a finished art product. The art product had to incorporate a stamping or stampings of our organic item. We were to present the finished product to the class for a critique. The class was supposed to guess the organic object used.
It took me a couple of days to come up with an organic item. I finally decided to use my buttocks as a stamp. I rolled latex house paints onto a rubber mat. I sat on the mat and then a piece of rag paper that I had painted gray. I stamped the rag paper twice overlapping a black print with a white one. The day that the project was due, we were instructed to hang our art products on a wall. The entire class took turns guessing the objects that were used in each stamping. Once an object was guessed we discussed whether the finished product was successful as a piece of art. No one could figure out what my organic object had been.
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Tagged art, art teacher, creative process, organic, rag paper, stan murmur
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