You Made That with Plastic? Turning Trash into Treasures

Turning Plastic into Art Blog by Mirka Knaster

In the 1967 rom-com The Graduate, Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is urged during his graduation party to join a business dealing in plastics. But no one appears even vaguely aware of the disasters this “material of the future” will wreak on the planet. We, in that very future, are only too conscious of the unintended consequences that plastics have caused. Because artists have the capacity to raise awareness about such issues and transform garbage into art work, this exhibit will provoke, amuse, educate, and inspire us to rethink our own consumption habits.

The artists invited to show in this exhibit have created interesting, playful, beautiful, and powerful objects by upcycling plastic found on our beaches as well as in our homes and workplaces, restaurants and cafés. Their creativity will demonstrate what’s possible when we make the effort to keep plastic off our streets and roads and out of waterways and oceans, garbage cans and landfills.

Participating artists: