This past week has been an amazing one for me in which I spent five days with two cousins--one of which I hadn't seen since I was twelve years old! We spent a lot of time looking at things in an artful way and sharing our hearts with each other. I will get into much of that in a later blog; however, today I want to tell about an installation I saw this morning in the Addlestone Library at the College of Charleston. I had read about it in a flyer and then the newspaper had a sizable article on it, so . . .I decided that I really shouldn't miss it (especially since I was still in the groove after five days of looking at artful things!)
The installation was a Bottlecap Mandala by Bryant Holsenbeck, an environmental artist from Durham, NC. Back in the day, when I was a potter, I used to see her at Craft Shows with her handmade baskets--but this was on a MUCH larger scale--20 feet in diameter. The entire mandala is made from recycled trash and is arranged artfully to create a thing of beauty and inspiration. It is also created in an effort to demonstrate just how much detritus we leave in our wake on a daily basis.
The first photo is the view of the entire mandala from the third story of the building. It looks quite small in this photo, but, remember, it is quite large. As you look at the pictures from the floor level, you can identify some of the recycled items that make up the structure-- beer bottle caps, bread loaf closures, powdered ink bottles
, milk bottle tops, pickle bottle tops. And notice the layers of tops that form a three dimensional element. The installation was quite thought provoking in terms of all the waste we create and how we deal with it as a society. But it was also very inspiring to see what we can do with this trash when we set our minds to it. If you're in Charleston before the installation closes on November 19th, stop in a take a look. It's well worth the effort.
The installation was a Bottlecap Mandala by Bryant Holsenbeck, an environmental artist from Durham, NC. Back in the day, when I was a potter, I used to see her at Craft Shows with her handmade baskets--but this was on a MUCH larger scale--20 feet in diameter. The entire mandala is made from recycled trash and is arranged artfully to create a thing of beauty and inspiration. It is also created in an effort to demonstrate just how much detritus we leave in our wake on a daily basis.
The first photo is the view of the entire mandala from the third story of the building. It looks quite small in this photo, but, remember, it is quite large. As you look at the pictures from the floor level, you can identify some of the recycled items that make up the structure-- beer bottle caps, bread loaf closures, powdered ink bottles
, milk bottle tops, pickle bottle tops. And notice the layers of tops that form a three dimensional element. The installation was quite thought provoking in terms of all the waste we create and how we deal with it as a society. But it was also very inspiring to see what we can do with this trash when we set our minds to it. If you're in Charleston before the installation closes on November 19th, stop in a take a look. It's well worth the effort. 
2 comments:
Wow! From cast offs to fabulous! We do waste so much of our valuable resources without a thought. Thanks for sharing. Hope I can get to Charleston to see it in person.
That is very cool. I somehow missed the article in the paper, but will try to get there to see it before it leaves.
Glad your cousins visit went well.
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