ZeroLandfill(Ed) 3.3 was held this past fall at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  The group had a great time and made some really great projects.  So, we are hosting it again.  This time in Akron.  ZeroLandfill(Ed)™ 3.3 will be held onsite at ZeroLandfill™ Akron.

This workshop features three materials used in three different projects.  We explore tessellations, books and hand sewing.  You will an opportunity to Harvest at ZeroLandfill and get your creative juices flowing.

Every participant will go home with a CD of lesson plans / instructions, three projects that we have created during the workshop and loads of materials to take back to the classroom and workplace.

Here are the details and registration:

One of the favorite materials that comes into ZeroLandfill is fabric.  The material comes in as 2″ x 2″ samples up to one yard sample cuts.  Fabric goes back out into the community as quickly as it comes in a project sites door.  So the question I have is “What are you creating with it?”

Here is an opportunity to show it to larger community, in a venue during Fiber Philadelphia.  Fiber Philadelphia is an international biennial and regional festival for innovative fiber art.  Venues all over Philly and the surrounding area feature fiber art exhibitions from March through June.  Refuse/re-seen is a exhibition that

…encourages artists working in fiber to become infatuated with the idea of exploring the possibilities of this disposable and disregarded stuff as the basis for this submission.   Our challenge for fiber artists everywhere is to take the most ordinary, non-precious and every day materials and to create the most extraordinary.   The reuse of every conceivable material is already imbedded in the psyches of many working artists today.  This exhibit will require the use of materials which are not durable and are normally considered ephemeral and short lived.

Applications are due on February 25.  Take a look at the prospectus.  Tell us if you are juried into Refuse/re-seen.  We want to highlight your achievements here.

Pop up stores are trending. In a nutshell, pop up stores are temporary shops that aim to sell merchandise or generate buzz and then close up. An internet search points to a growing list of pop-up stores that open for the holidays.  Everything from branded stores with a small storefront to the entrepreneurial artist or crafter with an eye for product to fit a niche.  In Portland, OR, potential retailers compete for the coveted spaces to locate their stores.

In Northeast Ohio, we are enjoying this holiday season with three pop up stores that embrace the talents of the artists and craftspeople of the region.  Items are handmade, quirky, sophisticated and beautiful.

Made in the 216 – An annual event hosted by the Room Service.  A 5 week long holiday shop that features items from 60 Cleveland designers.

Cosmic Bobbins – New to the pop up scene.  This is a delightful space in the front storefront of Tremont West.  Featuring artwork of Dana Depew who repurposes afghans into interesting painted artwork and Cosmic Bobbins bags and accessories.

Collective Upcycle – Everything in this pop up store is created from upcycled materials.  Everything from wine bottle glass used in earrings and necklaces to worm casing compostable ornaments.  I counted 5 artists that sourced their materials at ZeroLandfill.

What all of these pop ups shops share is a celebration of our local creative community.  The artists and craftspeople that create the gifts and accessories that you will find at any of these stores is given a platform for sales.  A space that is curated to focus and highlight their art.  The community has an alternative to big box retailers to spend their money.

A micro-economy is born as well. Nicole McGee from Collective Upcycle shared with me her 2010 holiday shop was open for 5 weeks and had $16,000 in sales. She had a three week run in June of this year that generated $11,000 in sales.  It is worth noting that Collective Upcycle is typically open Thursday – Sunday – a 4 day week.  The sales generated benefit this local economy, validate the work being done and recognize a different way of doing business.

Do you have a Pop Up Store in your city?  Have you spotted ZeroLandfill materials that are being used in unique and diverse ways?

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to speak to seventh graders from Laurel School in Cleveland. They wanted to know about ZeroLandfill, how we got started and the connection with honeybees.  The girls were charming and engaged.  They asked great questions, wanting to understand the materials we work with, how they are used in the community and why bees.

This video is the most clear explanation of how we used Biomimicry to design the processes and language for ZeroLandfill.

Biomimicry is the using nature as inspiration to solve human centered problems.  Ours is centered around diverting value from the waste stream.  When we applied our knowledge of how honeybees forage and communicate to the processes at ZeroLandfill, the communication was clear and simple.  Pollination, Cultivation and Harvest are a quick and intuitive connections to the activities that take place at each project site.

The students at Laurel will now have the opportunity to play with the materials that their teacher harvested this summer at ZeroLandfill.  I am curious to see what they create.

New lesson ideas for vinyl, paint chips, and fabrics! 

We know you love ZeroLandfill™.  Find cool stuff, save the planet, get free supplies.  But you’re missing that special ingredient – inspiration!  Want project ideas for all that stuff?  Join us at ZeroLandfill(Ed)™ for professional development workshops for you and your colleagues!

Geared toward teachers, homeschoolers, program coordinators, and crafters, ZeroLandfill(Ed)™ is a one-day workshop where we will give you three lesson ideas to use within your classroom, program, or studio.  You’ll have the opportunity to try out the projects while you network with colleagues.  And we’ll have plenty of materials to take back with you when you leave!

At the end of the class, each participant will receive a CD with a copy of all three lesson plans, complete with NAEA Achievement Standards.  Participants will also receive a Certificate of Participation to submit to their school or program if they wish to receive professional development credit. 

What: ZeroLandfill(Ed)™ 3.3 – Project Ideas for your classroom

When: Saturday, November 12, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm


Where: Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

Cost: $50


Registration is due by November 4.  Workshop is limited to 24.

Payment can be made via check or Paypal.

What, you haven’t heard?.  Our friends at Reuse Alliance are petitioning the US Senate Committee on the Environment to designate October 20th as National Reuse Day.

The purpose of National Reuse Day will be to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of reuse and encourage more people to join the movement toward creating a cleaner environment and a greener economy.

National Reuse Day will be the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to buy, use or donate reusable, reclaimed and remanufactured products. Having a national day will help encourage millions of Americans to improve their reuse habits at home, school and work.

Through National Reuse Day, the Reuse Alliance will support local communities and raise awareness by educating citizens about the benefits of reuse. We hope that on every October 20th everyone will become better informed about the importance of reuse.

We are celebrating National Reuse Day today with our ZeroLandfill community.

CONGRATULATIONS to the community. You have collectively upcycled over 600,000 lbs of materials from the waste stream.  The materials are still new, still usable and lead to incredibly creative ideas from the artists and educators among us.  We welcome Denver, Colorado to our community today.  Mike Dungan is in Denver this week presenting the CEU – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Landfill and leading the workshop discovery training.  We look forward to seeing Denver’s interiors and creative communities come together.

A NEW HOME for Collective Upcycle for November/December 2011.  Our friend, Nicole McGee at Plenty Underfoot, opens up a pop-up boutique shop for holiday shopping – this year in Shaker Square next to Fire.  The boutique will be full of the goods of 30+ local & regional reuse artists & up cyclists.  Items created from plastic bag, cast away glass, reclaimed sweater, salvaged bicycle part, scrap wire, expired flooring sample, scrap paper, sailcloth… You will find jewelry, candles, home accessories, artwork for your walls and much, much more.  Here are a few items I spotted this summer made from ZeroLandfill materials.

Renee Rothhaas's earrings on Interface fabric card

Elaine Slea's fabric box

THANK YOU to ZeroLandfill Nashville.  They gifted us with this oh-so-cool beehive (pictured above) created by the ASID student chapter of University of Tennessee Chattanooga.  I can’t decide which I love more, the bees hanging from  chains or the queen.  Our office has never looked better.

WELCOME and THANK YOU to our presenting sponsor for ZeroLandfill, Wilsonart. Your support is meaningful to the new and current communities of ZeroLandfill.

How are you acknowledging and celebrating Arts and Humanity month?

Here is how ArtUSA describes it:

National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) is a coast-to-coast collective recognition of the importance of culture in America. It is designed to encourage all Americans to explore new facets of the arts and humanities in their lives, and to begin a lifelong habit of active participation in the arts and humanities.

We are acknowledging the artists, crafters and educators that pass through the doors of a ZeroLandfill project site in one of thirteen communities across the country. We celebrate their artwork, their creativity, their passion.  We love their enthusiasm, energy and passion when they walk through our doors.  And we recognize that our communities are richer for their contribution.

Hug an artist or teacher this month.  Visit a gallery, attend an art opening, purchase gifts from a local artist.  Praise a child’s creativity, thank an art teacher for encouraging the spark, sign up for an art class.

Lori Gibson from ZeroLandfill Louisville created this home decor artwork in the picture to the right from ZeroLandfill finds.

At our ZeroLandfill Harvest, we had some great fabric samples donated, and I found some that looked very good with my bedspread and the daisy picture.  Also found at the Harvest were some 8″ samples of acoustical wall material.  These were the same size as the daisy picture. I covered the acoustical wall samples with quilt batting, then stapled a square of the fabric around and secured hangers to the backside.

Instant art for her bedroom through creativity and inspiration.  Celebrate these qualities around you during Arts and Humanity month.

Two ZeroLandfill Cleveland artists have participated in SmartHome at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History this summer. All of the artwork selected for the home was through the lens of sustainability whether, materials, process or theme.  The SmartHome exhibition is ending this Friday, October 7.  All of the artwork is available for purchase at the SmartSale on Sunday, October 9.

Meet our ZeroLandfill Cleveland artists in the SmartHome:

Tricia Lazuka brings a lively interest in pattern, texture and line to her paintings and prints. Working in acrylics and encaustic (which incorporates beeswax and resin into the material), Lazuka plays with fields that can almost look like landscapes, while others look as if they’ve taken their inspiration from manmade objects.

Lazuka, who grew up in Northeast Ohio and lives in Kirtland, is one of 14 artists whose work is part of the PNC SmartHome exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Curated by RED DOT Project’s Christy Gray, the SmartHome collection features work by artists who celebrate sustainability through their selection of subject matter, materials, or by refining their processes to reduce environmental impact.

“My paintings in the SmartHome were made using cloth obtained through ZeroLandfill, from the closing of the Carnegie Textile Mill in Cleveland,” Lazuka says.  READ MORE

People always want to know where artists find their inspiration. And, these days, some people want to know how artists respond to concerns about the environment.

For Nicole McGee, both questions lead to the same spot. McGee’s art business, Plenty Underfoot, owes its very existence to the artist’s response to her environment.

“I find creativity in the excess and scraps of other people’s work and lives,” says McGee. “I let the materials themselves inspire me.  I currently work a lot with vinyl flooring samples, plastic bottles, cereal boxes, telephone wire, and brown paper bags.”  READ MORE

Spending time with early childhood educators is as fun as it sounds.  How can it not be with so much play surrounding the learning.  Barb Cicerchi welcomed me to her classroom at Tri-C West to talk to students in her Art in Early Childhood class.

I told them the story of ZeroLandfill, sharing examples of the materials that they would find at a typical harvest.  They looked at project examples from a ZeroLandfill(Ed) workshop that we did this spring for the pre-K teachers at Cleveland Municipal School District. As well as project examples using tiles, magazines and wallcovering.

I left with a better understanding of how the materials that we commonly see at ZeroLandfill can be utilized in an early childhood classroom.  There are, of course, a myriad of art projects, but the materials on their own are welcome for their variety, texture, color and weight.  Wallcovering, fabric and bricks can be used to explore textures.  A sampling of metals from laminate samples to ceiling grid samples can be used at design tables, where a student pulls everything out of a box, creates an image or design on the table and puts everything back into the box.  The value is on the design created as much as the handling of the materials and organizing them back into the box. Laminate chips can be used to make a matching game.

Creating with found materials is a common practice in an early childhood classroom.  Discovering ceramic tile, glass tile and vinyl composition tile is part of the process for the educators.  The children – they are smart enough and full of creativity to do the rest.

Here are a few resources that Barb Cicerchi shared with me last week:
and

Let us know how you are using materials in your early childhood classroom.

Note: The above books are affiliate links.  They are the same price if you shop via Amazon, but if you purchase through the link above, we get a smidgen to support ZeroLandfill nation. 

The cool stuff at the end of the trail at ZeroLandfill.  That’s our honey.

The outcomes from the materials is what I live for.  When a teacher shares a project or artists share their vision, it’s hard not to flap my arms in a happy dance.  Dana Dzurko from Strongville, Ohio gives cause for celebration.  I met Dana this summer at ZeroLandfill Cleveland.  I caught up with her on a return trip to the project site.

I asked Dana what she was looking for and how she was going to use the materials.  Here are her words:

And the honey, or rather, her finished table.  

It is gorgeous as the colors and patterning dance across the top.  I am sure her family will enjoy this for years.