Earth Day Art
By: Calan Ree
As a Teaching Artist, I find myself utilizing many different types of art supplies. There are times when I’m facilitating a project and I don’t feel great about the material. It’s not that it isn’t fun and visually appealing but it’s because it isn’t particularly earth friendly. (I’m looking at you, glitter. I’m looking very hard at you.) This Earth Day month I’m happy to be working on a project that is very earth friendly and glitter-free.
“People truly LOVE to gather and donate ‘trash’ when they know it is destined to be art.”
Photo: Calan Ree
Seminole Elementary’s art teacher (aptly known as Miss Art) invited me to spend this week helping to facilitate a large mural made primarily of cardboard and plastic lids. The theme is “Under the Sea”. It’s about recognizing the vibrancy, beauty and necessity of a healthy ocean.
Children from pre-k up to 5th grade are contributing. They are drawing and cutting out sea themed shapes and then using smaller cardboard pieces to create texture and details. Bottle lids will become a rocky sea floor. Non-toxic paint will be applied to the pieces and then they will be assembled into one big mural which will be installed in the Centennial building where it will remain on display indefinitely. A reminder to care for our oceans. An inspiration to think outside the cardboard box to reuse, repurpose.
I have really gained a new appreciation for cardboard as an art medium and encourage you to consider it. It’s durable. It can be rigid or flexible making it great for paintings, sculpture, masks, buildings, etc. It’s extremely cost-effective. Free, even! Don’t have enough for your kids to build a cardboard city? No worries. Your friends and neighbors will gladly give you their cardboard. People truly LOVE to gather and donate ‘trash’ when they know it is destined to be art. It simply feels good.
Where to begin?
Just visit the library or google cardboard art and you’ll find projects for kids as well as incredibly larger than life fine art cardboard sculptures and everything in between to inspire you. Or just turn that cereal box inside out and start drawing on it.
TIP: If you peel the top layer of cardboard off, it not only gives you a really cool corrugated texture, it makes it so much easier to cut. You can even use kids safety scissors on it this way. For older kids and adults, I prefer heavier duty scissors or cardboard saws. There’s always a way to get that cardboard into any shape you can imagine.
Happy Earth Day, Friends!
-Calan Ree