![In landmark art preservation news:
It’s hard to miss the 70-foot-tall blue saxophone as you drive down Richmond Avenue [in Houston].
Its name is Smokesax, and it has been at that location on 6025 Richmond for the past 20 years. But Wednesday, the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, a local folk art organization [mentioned previously here], announced it is going to acquire the oversize horn, which is made out of car parts, oil field pipes and a surfboard, as well as an entire Volkswagen Beetle that forms the U-joint at its base.
The big brass was built by legendary Texas artist Bob Wade as a special installation for Billy Blues Bar & Grill. It was fully restored three years ago, and the current property owners, Kensinger Properties Ltd., said they wanted the Orange Show to ensure the piece would be preserved for future generations.
The saxophone will be removed from its current location at 10 a.m. on Feb. 28. The process to remove the massive piece will take a full day. Then, Smokesax will begin its 13-mile journey from Richmond Avenue to Munger Street. Artist Bob Wade will be overseeing the entire removal and transportation. Once at the Orange Show, it will be housed in the organization’s warehouse until an exact location has been chosen for permanent display.
(via Orange Show Center for Visionary Art to acquire Smokesax - Houston Business Journal)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/3bfe3dcdd0336dcd1f29c92df2e33740/tumblr_mixsfrQt9I1qzgg3to1_500.jpg)
In landmark art preservation news:
It’s hard to miss the 70-foot-tall blue saxophone as you drive down Richmond Avenue [in Houston].
Its name is Smokesax, and it has been at that location on 6025 Richmond for the past 20 years. But Wednesday, the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, a local folk art organization [mentioned previously here], announced it is going to acquire the oversize horn, which is made out of car parts, oil field pipes and a surfboard, as well as an entire Volkswagen Beetle that forms the U-joint at its base.
The big brass was built by legendary Texas artist Bob Wade as a special installation for Billy Blues Bar & Grill. It was fully restored three years ago, and the current property owners, Kensinger Properties Ltd., said they wanted the Orange Show to ensure the piece would be preserved for future generations.
The saxophone will be removed from its current location at 10 a.m. on Feb. 28. The process to remove the massive piece will take a full day. Then, Smokesax will begin its 13-mile journey from Richmond Avenue to Munger Street. Artist Bob Wade will be overseeing the entire removal and transportation. Once at the Orange Show, it will be housed in the organization’s warehouse until an exact location has been chosen for permanent display.
(via Orange Show Center for Visionary Art to acquire Smokesax - Houston Business Journal)
Old Styrofoam packing peanuts = new garland for City of Houston’s “Holiday Trees: Artistically Upcycled” exhibit.
Happy Halloween and Day of the Dead!
Pictured: “Dead Media,” an installation that repurposes 497 VHS tapes. Created by friend of Unconsumption Noah Scalin (mentioned previously several times here), of the Skull-A-Day project. (photo via SkullADay here)
See also: Other videotape-related repurposing examples in earlier posts here.
![Today: Cans filled with Campbell’s tomato soup.
Next month: After the soup’s consumed, the empty cans, with colorful labels still on them, will be repurposed as … art supply holders!
[If you haven’t heard about these specially designed labels, here’s a little info: Campbell Soup Co., in a promotion with Target stores and The Andy Warhol Foundation, packaged a batch of tomato soup in cans covered with limited-edition Andy Warhol-inspired Pop-art labels. The cans were made available this past weekend at Target store. (I read that some stores sold out hours after the cans went on sale.) The project commemorates the 50th anniversary of Warhol’s famed Campbell’s soup can work. A portion of revenue from the project will benefit the Warhol Foundation.] Now I have to admit that I don’t typically shop at Target, but I needed cat litter, and I’d read about the can promo; together, they gave me a reason to visit a nearby Target store! #Popartisforeveryone
(Taken with Instagram at Super Target)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9wsc4qa6f1qzgg3to1_500.jpg)
Today: Cans filled with Campbell’s tomato soup.
Next month: After the soup’s consumed, the empty cans, with colorful labels still on them, will be repurposed as … art supply holders!
[If you haven’t heard about these specially designed labels, here’s a little info: Campbell Soup Co., in a promotion with Target stores and The Andy Warhol Foundation, packaged a batch of tomato soup in cans covered with limited-edition Andy Warhol-inspired Pop-art labels. The cans were made available this past weekend at Target store. (I read that some stores sold out hours after the cans went on sale.) The project commemorates the 50th anniversary of Warhol’s famed Campbell’s soup can work. A portion of revenue from the project will benefit the Warhol Foundation.] Now I have to admit that I don’t typically shop at Target, but I needed cat litter, and I’d read about the can promo; together, they gave me a reason to visit a nearby Target store! #Popartisforeveryone
(Taken with Instagram at Super Target)
A good use for empty wine bottles. (Taken with Instagram at HCAF Point Theater)
Dave Bowman, of Dearborn, Michigan-based Design Turnpike, turns vintage license plates into beautifully crafted pieces of art.
For a project like this 60” x 40” American flag, it can easily take Dave 40+ hours to find, prepare, and assemble the 40-50 steel license plates, which get cut and mounted onto a distressed wood base.
Check out photos of some of Dave’s other work on Design Turnpike’s site here, Facebook page here, and Etsy shop here.
Happy Fourth of July!
To add to our posts about libraries, other book-related matters, and wine-related repurposing, there’s this:
An obsolete card catalog repurposed as a minibar.
Need we say more?!
(photo via The Sugar Monster on Flickr)
Today, in “things I love.”
I’ve long been a fan of artist Jean Shin; she’s turned discarded objects into really cool artwork. (We’ve featured some of her work on the Unconsumption Tumblr.) Here, I’m standing in front of one of her broken umbrella sculptures, in a private collection in Houston. (Taken with Instagram at Houston, Texas)
Now this is an innovative way to soften hardscapes. Interesting, from both repurposing and urban intervention standpoints.
More creative new uses for old books:
Make table runners from the pages of unwanted books, e.g., books damaged beyond repair.
(via BHG)
How-to: Make a “paper tree” in five easy steps
This project was inspired by two things: 1.) A neat “printed paper pine” item from Anthropologie, and 2.) my discovery, in the attic of my parents’ house, of an assortment of vintage sheet music — mainly trumpet and saxophone parts from the 1950s-1970s (that hadn’t been touched since the 1970s) when my father played in a band.
Materials needed:
- One chopstick
- Something into which the chopstick can be anchored, like a scrap piece of wood, so the stick stands vertically (I upcycled an old plastic reel-to-reel tape spool as a base)
- Several pages of printed sheet music, pages from a discarded book (or book you’ll no longer read), old holiday cards, or pages from magazines or catalogs
- A piece of cardboard, roughly 1.5’x2’ in size
Tools:
- Pinking shears, or something else that provides a decorative edge
- Scissors
- An ice pick, or other hole-punching device
- Optional: Glue, small nail, hammer
Estimated time for completion:
- A couple of hours, though you probably can multi-task (read blogs, like I did, or watch TV) while working.
Steps:
- Using pinking shears, or another cutting tool, cut the music (or other paper pieces) into squares. I cut my largest square approximately 5” x 5”, and smallest 1” x 1”. As I went along, I didn’t measure the pieces, but estimated the size based on that of the squares I’d just cut. For one tree, I used 40 paper squares.
- Next, use scissors to cut the cardboard into small squares to add as spacers between the paper squares. The cardboard squares should be considerably smaller than the paper squares — that’ll help make the cardboard less visible. (I used a piece of recycled cardboard that held a case of cat food — it’s thinner and less rigid than some cardboard which made it easier to cut, I think.) Cut out the same number of cardboard squares as you have paper squares.
- Poke holes in the center of the paper and cardboard squares. With an ice pick, I was able to punch holes through several squares at the same time. (Your mileage may vary.)
- Next, place your chopstick in whatever object you have handy to use as a base. You may want to nail or glue the chopstick into/onto your object. (I didn’t need to — my chopstick fits pretty snugly into my base.)
- Now place the cardboard and paper squares onto the chopstick, pushing them down from the chopstick’s tapered end. Start with your largest square of cardboard, then add your largest piece of music on top of it. Continue stacking the cardboard and paper squares, keeping an eye on how your “tree” is shaping up. Hopefully, it’s a nice cone shape.
As your layering of squares nears the top of the chopstick, stop at whatever point you want to. You could put a dot of glue on the topmost cardboard piece and paper square, to hold them in place. (I’d like to take the tree apart after the holidays — to store everything flat in a box — so I didn’t add glue.) Also, I left my chopstick top bare because I like the minimal look of it. You may want to “top” your tree with something.
That’s it. Place your tree on a table, and enjoy!
Note: This project carries a stamp of approval from Veto, my feline quality control officer.
![Via unconsumption:
In the hands of Italian artist Margherita Marchioni, old eyeglass and sunglass parts are transformed into butterflies.
[Confession: I kind of love this.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lna48e4b9w1qzv12bo1_500.jpg)
Via unconsumption:
In the hands of Italian artist Margherita Marchioni, old eyeglass and sunglass parts are transformed into butterflies.
[Confession: I kind of love this.]
Via unconsumption:
Speaking of *trashy* performances:
What do you get when you cross a recycling company with a classical composer? A symphony, written at the San Francisco dump, that’s played on musical instruments made from garbage.
During an artist residency in 2007 at waste management company Recology San Francisco, composer Nathaniel Stookey (pictured above) composed Junkestra, a symphony in three movements, for 30 or so “instruments” created from trash — pipes, pans, mixing bowls, bottles, serving trays, dresser drawers, oil drums, bike wheels, saws, garbage cans, and shopping carts, among other items — he found in San Francisco’s dump.
San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra musicians premiered the 12-minute-long Junkestra in a performance, conducted by Benjamin Shwartz, held at the dump’s warehouse. (Watch the third movement in this video.)
Junkestra has since been performed in San Francisco at the Herbst Theater, the new California Academy of Sciences, and, by San Francisco Symphony musicians, at Davies Symphony Hall. A CD was released earlier this year.
Recology’s artist-in-residence program aims to inspire and educate people about recycling and resource conservation by providing Bay-area artists with access to materials, a work space, and other resources at the company’s solid waste transfer and recycling center.
Junkestra symphony is pure garbage | Crave - CNET
(hat tip to Chrissy Smith, @marimbamaiden18!)
