“Still Life with a Painting” copyright 2011 by Carol Skinger
an assemblage 18″ x 9″ x 9″, mixed media
Autumn of 2011 has been a busy time in the best way! I had some art work accepted for exhibit in Pittsburgh’s Arbor Aid 2011. Being an environmentally conscious tree-hugger type person in general, I was fascinated to read the prospectus for the show and the
event. I immediately went pawing through 1. our garage 2. Construction Junction , and 3. even took bike ride to look for salvaged wood to incorporate in to my submission. It did not take long to find some right here at home. After my first Dundee Marmelade jar by James Keillor and sons broke, it was far more challenging to come up with the one pictured, than to find salvaged wood, but with the help of friends, I did. Thanks so much to John Smith in VT for coming up with this one.
So, what is Arbor Aid 2011?
It is Tree Pittsburgh’s Annual Fundraiser featuring art created from salvaged wood.
And who is Tree Pittsburgh?
Tree Pittsburgh is an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the City’s vitality by restoring and protecting City trees.
So the salvaged wood I was looking for turned out to be in our own pile of stuff in the garage. I bet you have some too. I had some barn board samples for a bathroom renovation from Urban Evolutions in Wisconsin. Urban Evolutions “rescues great building materials from old world, quality constructed spaces” (their words). I was about to throw the samples into a bonfire when I read the Arbor Aid 2011 prospectus and realized that I could recycle them yet again to be part of my art piece, “Still Life with a Painting”.
Urban Evolutions has provided salvaged wood to some amazing projects: US Venture’s Corporate Office Building , a residential project in Quebec, with David Easton , the first store in USA for Burbury Brit , reclaimed home furnishings made from wood salvaged from Thomas Alva Edison’s New London,Wisconsin cabinet factory (1917) . Makes me wonder about the provenance of my barn board shelf I made for my piece “Still Life with a Painting” from their samples!
I think we all know that massive post and beam structural members from old buildings have been beautifully used in new construction for a long time. You may NOT know, as I did not, that barn board itself is one of the hot trends right now in salvaged wood.
This project was so much fun that I have since then created another assemblage called
“After the Tsunami” that I have submitted to another show.
“After the Tsunami” copyright 2011 Carol Skinger
an assemblage 28″w. x 15″h. x 9″d , mixed media