Jennifer Joiner of Sycamore believes making art out of what other people toss aside is a good way to make a statement about the importance of the environment.
“I make art out of things that people throw away in Lake Michigan. I love the beach and I love to beachcomb,” Joiner said Friday night during the opening of Aurora Public Art’s new exhibit “Re-Imagined: The Art of Sustainability” inside the David L. Pierce Art and History Center in downtown Aurora. “I found some toys and some plastic, and I decided to keep collecting it and bring it home and glue it all together and turn it into a piece that reflects us, as humanity, as we progress into the plastic age.”
The new exhibit at Aurora Public Art’s gallery, which runs through May 23, includes works from a variety of adult artists as well as submissions from students attending East Aurora School District’s Early Childhood Center.
A press release from the city of Aurora said the show “highlights the intersection of creativity and environmental stewardship, challenging artists of all ages to transform discarded materials into compelling works of art.”
“This show isn’t just about looking at art, it’s about looking at our ‘trash’ differently,” Curator Sangeeta Pande said in the release.
Pande said she made “an open call for art that was open to all age groups” for the exhibit about a month ago, adding that “the response was phenomenal.”
“I had about 15 artists that responded and, in addition, I had the Early Childhood Center kids respond which was really heartwarming,” she said.
The young artists submitted about 15 works that Pande said are “all about responsibility and sustainability and reusing milk cartons, cereal boxes, packages and whatever goods they could find.”
“I was really excited to see what the kids could do, given the time frame. There were all sorts of cute ideas from pipe cleaners, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, whatever the kids were able to collect and create,” she said. “There wasn’t any picking and choosing. I literally couldn’t deny any of them. Everyone’s work made it in the show as I was so blown away by the dedication.”
Susan Orozco, principal of the East Aurora Early Childhood Center, said she is proud of her students’ work that is part of the exhibit.
“As far as our kids making art out of garbage, if you will, we encourage that all the time. We were finishing a unit on buildings and we had kids build in the classroom and they use a lot of recyclables,” she said. “When we saw that they were looking for recyclable works here for the show, we said let’s turn some in. They accepted some pieces and we were super-excited.”
Ann Marie Greenberg of Chicago is one of the adult artists with pieces being show in the exhibition. She said her work at the exhibit is “a reflection of the plastic usage and the peril of plastic, but also the need for plastic in our lives.”
“These are made from stuff I had around the house including old rocking chairs that I took apart and then put a plastic piece on top of them that I painted and also metal pieces that I painted and put it all together,” she said.
“I started doing this about 10 years ago,” she said of her art. “I was driven to it after I was volunteering in my children’s lunchroom and every day, I would watch piles and piles of plastic be thrown away and I was thinking about that happening in classrooms all over the world. That led me to think about what I can do with it, and that’s taking it and making it beautiful, making joy with it, but also trying to draw awareness to it at the same time.”
The exhibit will run through May 23 at Aurora Public Art’s gallery at 20 E. Downer Place. Gallery hours are from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
