Johnston Foster- Artist Talk 03/03/2010
Last week, Johnston Foster gave an artist talk. Here are some photos of the event:    Crafter Panel- This Thursday! 02/08/2010
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.  VAEA!! 11/22/2009
This past weekend Richmond Stuff presented at the VAEA conference! We had an awesome time telling everyone about who we are and having them create artwork out of our recycled materials. here are some pictures from the event!      September Artist + Resources 09/02/2009
 September Artist: CardboardSafari CardboardSafari is a collaboration between Chris Jessee and Luis Rodrigalvarez. Find them on Etsy here. Their delightful works include cardboard deer, bison, and rhino trophies, wreaths, gift boxes, holiday trees and full-body animals. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, CardboardSafari's products are earth friendly, can be recycled, and are just plain fun. September Resources: All on the Internet. Want to learn more about how other people are greening up their lives? Check out Best Green Blogs, a rather expansive directory of green and sustainable themed weblogs, organized by diverse categories. Writers from all over the world are publishing articles and stories dealing with a wide variety of topics dealing with environmental issues and green living; and Best Green Blogs is an attempt to capture some of that independent publishing spirit. One blog featured on Best Green Blogs was Cheap Like Me, "where ecology (living green) meets economy (frugal living). This blog explores how to redirect dollars and energy into living the good life you want. Let’s talk about how we do it, and how to do it better." ...And the big fish needs to recycle too. Creative Recycling Resources, based in the southeastern United States, strives to be a resource to dampen corporate America's eco-print. From Creative Recycling Resources's website: The Information Age has created a virtual tidal wave of electronic devices – including computers and monitors that become obsolete or wear out at an ever-increasing rate. The demand for newer, superior technology has increased the pace at which current devices reach the end of their useful lives. As a result, the question of what to do with obsolete electronics has become a global issue. Disposal is not the answer. Computers and other electronics need to be properly handled by a responsible recycling company rather than being sent to a waste disposal company. There's still lead in paint? 09/01/2009
 I thought America is in the midst of a greenwashing craze. We lead stressful, busy lives. Do we really have the energy to read all of the fine print before getting to the checkout line? As a compromise, we are happily seduced by catch words we associate with being eco-friendly. “Organic,” “green” and “natural” appear more and more in product labels lingo. Unfortunately, there are not enough regulations in place to guarantee those tag-words mean what we think they mean (______ is good for you/your home/mother earth!) Researchers from the University of Cincinnati have found a good argument for taking a few extra moments to look beyond the marketing to get the facts. Cincinnati--Although lead content in paint has been restricted in the United States since 1978, University of Cincinnati (UC) environmental health researchers say in major countries from three continents there is still widespread failure to acknowledge its danger and companies continue to sell consumer paints that contain dangerous levels of lead. In a new study, Scott Clark, PhD, and his team have found that approximately 73 percent of consumer paint brands tested from 12 countries representing 46 percent of the world’s population exceeded current U.S. standard of 600 parts per million (ppm) for lead in paint. In addition, 69 percent of the brands had at least one sample exceeding 10,000 ppm. With the majority of American consumer goods being produced overseas, Clark says that lead paint exposure remains a serious global health threat. […] Interested in learning about environmentally responsible paints currently on the market? Mythic Paint AFM Safecoat Paint Durasoy Enamel Paint YOLO Colorhouse Paint  August Artist: Edina ToKodi Eco-minded street artist Edina Tokodi is putting a new spin on green guerilla tactics in the trendy art enclave of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Tokodi’s site-specific moss installations of prancing animal figures and camouflage outgrowths are the talk of a local urban neighborhood typically accustomed to gallery hype and commercial real estate take-overs. Unlike the market-driven art featured in sterile, white box galleries, the work of Tokodi is meant to be touched, felt, and in turn touch you in the playful ways that her animated installations call to mind a more familiar, environmentally friendly state in the barren patches of urban existence. Description and photos from: http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/10/24/urban-moss-graffiti-by-edina-tokodi/  August Resource: ReMida Remida promotes the idea that waste materials can be resources. The center collects, exhibits, and offers alternative and reclaimed materials, obtained from unsold stock and rejects or discard materials from industrial and handicraft production, with the aim to reinvent their use and meaning. Remida is a cultural project that represents a new, optimistic, and proactive way of approaching environmentalism and building change through giving value to reject materials, imperfect products, and otherwise worthless objects, to foster new opportunities for communication and creativity in a perspective of respect for objects, the environment, and human beings. Remida is a joint project of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and AGAC (the gas, water, and garbage collection utility) and is managed by the Friends of Reggio Children Association. The center distributes materials (paper, cardboard, ceramic, paints, cord, leather, rubber, wood, and so on) to teachers of infant-toddler centers and preschools, elementary, middle, and secondary schools, as well as to educational and cultural associations, senior citizens' centers, sheltered workshops for the disabled, recreation centers, and so on. Remida also promotes and organizes workshops and training courses, seminars, exhibits, and conferences. Description and photos from: http://zerosei.comune.re.it/inter/remida.htm The Story of Stuff 07/15/2009
July's Featured Artist + Resource 07/03/2009
 Trash, an Alphabet City Media book edited by John Knechtel and published in 2007 is an almost pocket-sized book in which artists, writers and filmmakers look at how we are defined by what we waste. Trash surveys a terrain that ranges from micro (a typology of dust bunnies) to macro (studies of landfill design and the trashed space of urban brownfield sites). It investigates the logic of trash as it is applied to humans and looks at lives intimately dependent on trash, delving into electronic waste, Nick Cave's Sound Suits, the abducted girls of Juarez and a futuristic portrayal of zero-waste cities in China.  Since 1998, American artist Michael Rakowitz (b. 1973) has collaborated with homeless people and worked with readily available materials including plastic bags, polyurethane tubes, hooks and tape to build inflatable shelters. This project, known as paraSITE, has had prototypes installed in urban environments of Baltimore, Boston, and New York City. ParaSITE has been exhibited by MoMA and MassMOCA. ParaSITE's structures are custom designed as shelters for homeless people. They attach to the exterior outtake vents of a building's HVAC (Heating, Ventalation, and Air Conditioning) system. Appropriating the HVAC system on existing architecture, warm air leaving the building simultaneously inflates and heats the structures. Building and distributing these temporary structures that have lead to much civic debate, examination of the fine print in certain city laws, and the occasional involvement of law enforcement, Rakowitz offers neither a solution to homelessness, nor a cynical social commentary. ParaSITE instead reminds us that art may of course be functional, impact and benefit individuals outside the gallery's white walls, and engage communities, provoking thought around a serious issue present on the streets of every city. Rakowitz currently teaches in the Department of Arts, Theory and Practice at Northwestern University. You can learn more about paraSITE and other works by Michael Rakowitz at http://rakowitz.reticular.info/. -Lisa Good Guide 06/25/2009
The Applications of POOP 06/21/2009
 Image from my favorite book, 'Everyone Poops' Creative reuse can be applied to poop. A friend brought such marvels to my attention as I am the kind of person who is entertained by poop. There’s nothing more hilarious or amusing as poop…maybe because everyone poops. While poop is an unavoidable waste product, we do have creative ways to make it work for us. A natural by-product of poop is methane gas. If you’ve ever smelled the funk driving south on I-95 past downtown Richmond, you know what methane gas smells like. You can see the flame from the top of the waste treatment facility along I-95 where it burns the methane gas in order to get rid of it. An alternative method of treating methane gas is using it as a source of energy. There are micro-organisms that can rapidly digest poop in an environment absent of oxygen (anaerobic digestion), naturally producing methane gas. When the methane gas is burned it can produce energy as a fuel or electricity. Some other proven uses for human or animal waste: • Kennels, dairy farms, pet shop owners, etc can use a machine called a methane digester to convert animal waste into electricity • Paper made from elephant poop, as featured under STUFF’s Resources page • “Energy recovery facilities” reuse waste from the disposal process to create more energy (also cutting the mass of the waste in half) -- funded by stimulus funds maybe? • Use sterilized fibers extracted from cow poop to replace sawdust in the production of fiberboard • Fertilizer...uh duh! • More interesting applications... -Elisabeth | AuthorsStuff staff and guest contributors.  CategoriesAll ArchivesMarch 2010 |
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