Interrupted Cycles
Cardboard, trade catalog, fishing string, glue
Melinda Turnbull
2012
Cardboard, trade catalog, fishing string, glue
Melinda Turnbull
2012
Consumption, Waste, and
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A Personal Response
I created a sculpture with these issues in mind. Two events were precursors to this work.
A few years ago a local company ran a contest for students to recycle plastic grocery bags. I was mortified when our school won this contest because our students brought large quantities of unused bags from the local grocery stores (they simply pulled them off the end of the checkout) and added them to the collection (Metro Waste Authority, 2011). In a desire to win, the meaning of the contest was lost. The other event occurred a month ago when a parent brought me hundreds of cardboard tubes that were the remains of a Christmas wrapping fundraiser for their church. We have created holidays around consuming and creating waste, losing the original meaning entirely.
This sculpture is created from some of those tubes, and other materials from my school art room; cardboard from a shipping box, fishing string, glue, and an Oriental Trading Company catalog (Oriental Trading, 2012). It began with the importance of cycles, so it is in the form of repeated circles. The base is the Yin Yang symbol, meant to show the balance of positive and negative forces (Dictionary.com, 2012), but has lost this connotation through globalization. The sculpture is made from recycled materials, but our over consumption created these materials.
The symbol is created by child-size footprints, collaged from the catalog images of so much "stuff" for children. My ironic wit was drawn to these images. The term "oriental" in itself is considered offensive, yet here is a Chinese company using it to sell insignificant objects. I collaged the words "Mom, I want that" with images from the "earth day" catalog page. Manufactured goods emblazoned with the words "love the earth suckers," "earth erasers," and "our earth punch balls."
The tubes are reminiscent of a burned forest, a bamboo grove, a city. Iowa, where I live, is one of our country's largest producers of wind energy (Merchant, 2011; Chernova, 2009), so I left several tubes loose to move in the wind. Some I burned to contrast wind energy with fossil fuel burning, as well as to make a statement about deforestation. The fishing string winds about the tubes, referencing both over-fishing and global networking.
In trying to avert overt consumption and waste, the art educator faces a paradoxical dilemma; creating traditional forms of art requires materials yet contemporary art practices point to sustainability of resources. How does this effect the art curriculum, the materials we use, and our classroom procedures? It requires a rethinking of all these areas to consume less, recycle more, and aim towards an empty garbage can.
A few years ago a local company ran a contest for students to recycle plastic grocery bags. I was mortified when our school won this contest because our students brought large quantities of unused bags from the local grocery stores (they simply pulled them off the end of the checkout) and added them to the collection (Metro Waste Authority, 2011). In a desire to win, the meaning of the contest was lost. The other event occurred a month ago when a parent brought me hundreds of cardboard tubes that were the remains of a Christmas wrapping fundraiser for their church. We have created holidays around consuming and creating waste, losing the original meaning entirely.
This sculpture is created from some of those tubes, and other materials from my school art room; cardboard from a shipping box, fishing string, glue, and an Oriental Trading Company catalog (Oriental Trading, 2012). It began with the importance of cycles, so it is in the form of repeated circles. The base is the Yin Yang symbol, meant to show the balance of positive and negative forces (Dictionary.com, 2012), but has lost this connotation through globalization. The sculpture is made from recycled materials, but our over consumption created these materials.
The symbol is created by child-size footprints, collaged from the catalog images of so much "stuff" for children. My ironic wit was drawn to these images. The term "oriental" in itself is considered offensive, yet here is a Chinese company using it to sell insignificant objects. I collaged the words "Mom, I want that" with images from the "earth day" catalog page. Manufactured goods emblazoned with the words "love the earth suckers," "earth erasers," and "our earth punch balls."
The tubes are reminiscent of a burned forest, a bamboo grove, a city. Iowa, where I live, is one of our country's largest producers of wind energy (Merchant, 2011; Chernova, 2009), so I left several tubes loose to move in the wind. Some I burned to contrast wind energy with fossil fuel burning, as well as to make a statement about deforestation. The fishing string winds about the tubes, referencing both over-fishing and global networking.
In trying to avert overt consumption and waste, the art educator faces a paradoxical dilemma; creating traditional forms of art requires materials yet contemporary art practices point to sustainability of resources. How does this effect the art curriculum, the materials we use, and our classroom procedures? It requires a rethinking of all these areas to consume less, recycle more, and aim towards an empty garbage can.