Artists, Sort Your Trash!
Here’s a project from my art classes that you might like to try in your own studio. It was inspired by Mark Todd‘s Junk Zines and Souther Salazar‘s Scrap Books.
At the beginning of the school year, I invited my students to contribute to my Collection of Beautiful Trash. I promised to use it for an end of the year surprise. Over the course of the year, they got really excited about the quality of their trash. As soon as the school year ended, I browsed through the detritus, selected the most compelling items, and bound the beautiful trash into these three volumes.
Although you can’t see it in these photographs, the titles “Mr. Hughes’s Book of Beautiful Trash” are embossed onto the covers. The books will be added to the art room library so that, next year, the students can peruse them for inspiration and, hopefully, learn a thing or two about the beauty of imperfection. A few of the spreads can be seen below.
Posted: June 30th, 2009 under artists.
Comments: 9
Comments
Comment from Julie Oakley
Time: July 1, 2009, 12:07 am
Mr Hughes, your students are very lucky to have such an inspirational teacher
Comment from Donna Compton
Time: July 2, 2009, 8:21 am
This inspires me to no end. I no longer teacher, but I volunteer at a thrift store. Now there are amazing finds, especially in repurposing for the classroom. Your scraps are lucky to be used again. I like this notion. ; )
Comment from susan
Time: July 2, 2009, 9:15 pm
best. idea, in months – thank you rama!!
Comment from lisa
Time: July 3, 2009, 3:01 pm
great idea. i have a box in my studio for reusable scraps and every now in then will wander through it with a project in mind, but never thought to do something like this. nice.
Comment from Jennifer
Time: July 9, 2009, 4:05 am
What a great idea! These are stunning and the children’s involvement is wonderful.
Comment from carlylennox
Time: July 10, 2009, 12:26 am
It’s important to recognise the whole process and not just end results! I love this idea and will use it next year! :)
Comment from eric tabuena
Time: July 13, 2009, 3:22 am
Lovely!!!
Comment from Annemarie
Time: July 21, 2009, 8:20 am
This is an amazing idea and I can’t wait to try it with my kids. I however will show them the post and have them save the scraps, then I will let them put the books together. The gifted students I work with will love it.
Comment from Rachel M Cotton
Time: June 30, 2009, 6:06 pm
What a fabulous idea! I love it! I will use this in my next class!