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GLEAN: Make art not landfill
Sustainable living › Step up your green game › GLEAN
GLEAN, an environmental arts and education program managed by Cracked Pots in partnership with Metro and Recology, prompts people to think about what they can do to make art, not landfill.
Residents and businesses in the Portland metropolitan area generate more than 2.1 million tons of waste and recyclables each year – enough to fill the Rose Garden arena 15 times over. Tapping into the creative genius of local artists, GLEAN transforms some of that “trash” into spectacular works of art. In the process, the program prompts people to think about their consumption habits, inspires new ways of conserving resources, and supports the arts and the environment.
GLEAN works
Five artists are given safety gear and seven-months scavenging privileges to sort through the region’s discards dropped off at Metro Central Transfer Station in Northwest Portland. They each receive a stipend to create at least 10 works of art made entirely from “trash” otherwise destined for a landfill. The art will be on display and for sale the last three weekends in September 2012 at Disjecta Interdisciplinary Art Center.
Meet the GLEANers
The artists are selected to participate in the program by a jury of arts and environmental professionals. This year, artists include Andrew Auble, Chandra Glaeseman, Greg Hanson, Jennifer Lamastra and Sarah Wolf Newlands.
Go to the Cracked Pots website to read about the artists
GLEANings – the artists’ blog
New this year, the artists are blogging about their experience. Follow them as they dig through discards and conjure creative ways to reassemble them into works of art.
Program partners
GLEAN is a collaborative project developed by Recology, an employee-owned company that manages resource recovery facilities; Cracked Pots, Inc. an environmental arts organization; and Metro, the regional government for the Portland metropolitan area. The program educates the public about recycling, reuse and resource conservation while supporting the local art community and diverting materials from landfills.
GLEAN is in its second year, having been launched in 2011 as the Pacific Northwest Art Program. The inspiration for the program comes from the world-renowned Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program. Since its founding twenty years ago, the San Francisco program has supported more than one-hundred professional and student artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has been the subject of national and international press. Each year more than 5,000 children and adults visit art exhibitions and attend educational tours that allow artist to interact with the public while teaching important lessons about recycling and reuse.
Learn more about Recology Inc.
Learn more about Cracked Pots, Inc.
People's Choice Awards – 2011 show
During the 2011 exhibit, attendees were asked to nominate their favorite piece of art by each artist.
See the results of the 2011 People's Choice Awards