Week Four Starts with More Lattice

I found this material in the first week of my residency and have been looking for it ever since. Well, it surfaced again in abundance today. The task of pulling nails and cleaning it up begins.

Week Three

The collection grows. I can't seem to stay away from all the items from the interiors of homes. I keep pulling parts of furniture, cabinet doors and drawers, framed art and images, and other bric-a-brac that reek of a particular decade. I'm slowly amassing a timeline of how a public decorated their homes. Every day the studio space shrinks a little.
A very beautiful part of this residency is that an artist can collect with near abandon. I don't pay a cent for my materials, so if something doesn't work out, nothing lost (except time), it just goes back in the trash. I don't have to worry about the usual concerns of where to store things or if they are too cumbersome to haul away, everything can be managed with the help of the recycling centers employees and the company vehicles and equipment. Everyone is willing to help where it's needed.


This week a couple of colorful cabinet doors get cut up and glued back together in a checker board pattern. Don't know exactly where it's going just yet, but I went with the impulse to do it anyway. Stay tuned to see what form it takes in the future.

Old Lattice Takes New Form

Once all the staples had been pulled out of the old lattice and I cleaned it up a bit, I began playing with what form it would take. Below is the end result. I think I'll keep my eyes out for more of this material.

Public Tours

Tour groups come to SF Recycling and Disposal (a.k.a. "the dump") on a regular basis and they are usually brought through the studio. Meeting and talking to the public about my art work and what I am making in the studio are a part of the Artist-in-Residence program at the dump.
This is a picture of me showing off my find of the week to a local architecture firm. A lot of old vinyl finds its way into the dump. This one got a few laughs from the group when I pulled out the "bonus" G-string still inside the sleeve of the "Music to Strip By" record. Don't know if I could ever give this one up, but it could possibly be the best gag gift of all time. If I don't use it for anything it could also end up in the free pile at the show opening Sept. 26th, so come early and enjoy the pickin's.

Foam Sampler

Started an experiment today knitting with thin sheet foam used in packaging. Not the easiest task and very different than knitting with yarn (doesn't want to slide easily on the needles and sticks to itself in the process). The material continually squeaks while working, which makes for a slightly different knitting experience, but the results are pretty interesting.

Week Two

The outdoor area of the artist studio at SF Recycling and Disposal gets a face lift. They started breaking ground this week to lay a fresh concrete slab. Fresh concrete comes into the dump on a daily basis. When trucks are getting rid of remaining concrete from a job site they bring it here and SF Recycling and Disposal utilizes this concrete as much as possible for a variety of projects. Little by little a new outdoor area will be built completely from leftover material that comes into the dump. What a brilliant way to use up waste. Hmmmm. Maybe making a mold for a concrete pour is in my future.

Week One

The first week of my Artist in Residence at SF Recycling and Disposal. It might seem strange to say that I was excited to dig through the trash, but I was well aware of the treasures that lurk in the muck.

I had heard the stories from artists that had come before me and from the employees that have worked there for years. I knew there were plenty of goodies to be found. A lot of things come to the city dump and for a variety of reasons (e.g. people purging their personal clutter, stuff left behind from an apartment move, demolition/construction waste, etc.). It seems as though every commodity known to us eventually makes its way back to the landfill. Even currency gets tossed ( yes, believe it or not, people literally throw money away).

As a part of my residency at SF Recycling and Disposal, I've been given the opportunity to pull from the heaps of trash, take it back to the studio (provided on site), and make art from the refuse. I don't really know what I'm looking for specifically yet, but I have a feeling I will be presented with ample choices and I prefer to see what will be offered up in the process of looking.

Some things found in my first week include an old record player, a lot of records (the ABBA collection is almost complete), a couple of lounge chairs, a variety of old cabinet doors, some torn out lattice/trellis, a perfectly good Osterizer, Cuisinart ice cream maker, books (lots of books), and a variety of interesting bric-a brac.

Artist Paul Cesewski and James breakdown the final pieces from the Carnival.

Cleaning up the found lattice/trellis.













"The Lounge"













Vintage turntable.














Twelve chairs in need of redemption.