Posts Tagged ‘street litter’
Monday, April 14th, 2014
I love to recycle packaging, junk mail and advertising materials into books
I like the freedom of designing my books as I make them, discovering ideas along the the way
Its amazing how much packaging can be saved over time
For this book I used cereal packaging with a peephole and pasta boxes with acetate windows for the interior pages
and sealed the pages with white Gesso
only on one side because I liked the dark look of the cardboard ( later I painted them with Parisian essence to age )
On the cover I used double sided tape to stick down the tabs
to make it more sturdy
The little window will have something inside
Taking a load of baguette bags I bought back from France
I scrunched them up into balls and wrinkled them
opened them up and stuck them to the cover packaging with pva glue
This gave the cover an oldish feel with a lovely rough texture.French text shows through the window
I covered the inside with some French text from a 1900’s magazine, stamping and my hand drawn doodle drawings.
I didn’t like the brightness of the gessoed pages so aged them with washes of Parisian essence
When dry I cut off some of side flaps from the inside pages saving them for tags and pockets later
I didn’t have an awl to make the holes for binding the book, instead I used a hammer and nail. It worked fine
I punched 3 rows of holes weaving in and out with cotton mop thread
leaving a tail inside I then plaited the threads and added a piece cardboard for a bead thing
The extra holes seen were a mistake and can be covered up with more baguette paper and glue later
Side flaps on some of the pages hold piles of water colour papers for collage and drawing
They are tied with cotton mop thread
The loose water colour papers are white and hand dyed with Parisian essence
See through windows add more interest
Pockets and string hold found papers and tags. The book is still not finished and I will probably add more tags and pockets
Toggles were sewn on the front with a string to close
This book has a Japanese feel to it and measures 24 x19cm. 5 pockets hold 40 pieces of water colour paper with another 12 pages. Some have windows.
I try to keep on top of my collecting by making something with the packaging every few weeks.
What do you make from your junk?
Tags: affordable art, Art Books, Art Books, Art materials, artist book, Artists books, blank handmade book, Books, collecting, contemporary artist Melbourne Australia, eco- friendly, French, handmade, handmade book, handmade books, handmade journal, handmade journal junk journal, how to, how to, Ideas, inspiration, jenny davis, junk book, packaging, Recycled art, Recycling, reusing junk, Street art, street litter, supplies, Uncategorised
Posted in Artists books, handmade books, packaging, street litter, Uncategorised | No Comments »
Friday, February 7th, 2014
Drawing & Collage on Vintage Index Cards.
“Indexing” a series of small abstract drawing & collage
Size 20 x 13cm.
collage with vintage found papers
watery black ink & pen
tissue and hand drawn doodles
original vintage French script
with oil pastel on old index cards
Tags: abstract art, affordable art, Art for sale, artist jenny davis, collage, collecting, contemporary artist Melbourne Australia, creating, Drawing, eco- friendly, french script, handmade, hndmde collage, Ideas, inspiration, jenny davis, mixed media, original collage, outlook8studio, Painting, Recycled art, Recycling, street litter, Uncategorised, Vintage fabrics, vintage finds, vintage papers, vintage wallpaper, Work on paper
Posted in Uncategorised | No Comments »
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
I believe art can no longer be only confined within the walls of established art institutions and be thought as only painting or sculpture. At a time when we are at the peak of global creativity I see artists refusing to be labelled and contained. Art venues and spaces are struggling to keep up and are experimenting with new ways to present this explosion of creative output artists for multidisciplinary and multidimensional.
When I was in Paris last time, I saw evidence of this. In a city of almost 300,000 living artists Paris seems to find creative outlets for multidisciplinary and multidimensional. Little “Hybrid art” spaces are popping up everywhere in the streets. Artists themselves have had to think of innovative ways to get their art seen. Many making their home an art space open to the public.
Art squats, sandwiched between homes in residential areas, art has taken over abandoned buildings where a rich cultural life of concerts, debates, exhibitions, lectures and workshops unravels in clandestine venues.
When I’m in Paris I have a couple of creative spaces I made out of necessity. “Studioinabox” and “The Dungeon”
“Studioinabox” is a wooden trunk in the apartment living room where all my creative materials are stored. I create the work on top of the box or the floor space. I may even display or exhibit in side the box. As I move from country to country, my “nomad art’ has to be small and transportable. I enjoy the challenge creating in the immediate space and using only items, I collect from the streets,used packaging and a few other bought art supplies that I can fit into my “Studioinabox’
‘The Dungeon” is a space underneath an apartment block in Paris. It’s damp, smelly and creepy with dark corridors, full of earth walls with red wooden doors. The lights are on a timer and go out every minute, so you can be stuck in a very unearthly dark abyss, if you don’t press one of the buttons on the wall quick enough. I have devised a way to stop them turning off and over the years, I have become more brave and allow myself to connect to the dark hole, for longer periods. Eventually I want to open the space and show my video and photography down there. I also have ideas of a performance in the space.
In Australia, I find there are too many artists and not enough art spaces as well. So, I’m playing around with a few ideas using my home and website, as my art space for all sorts of creative experiments. Nothing, is fully formulated or resolved yet, and will keep you all informed of my progress from this blog.
Do you have a special space where you create and show your work?
Tags: Alternative spaces, art exhibitions, Art Squats Paris, artist story, creating, creative space, Europe, Exhibitions, Hybrid Arts, jenny davis, meet the tenant, Paris, Paris Art scene, street litter, studio, studioinabox, the dungeon, Underground Spaces
Posted in Art Squats Paris, artist story, ArtsBus, creating, Europe, Hybrid Arts, Paris, Paris Art scene, Street art, street litter, studioinabox, the dungeon, underground | No Comments »
Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Detail of my entry into Landfillart Project
Excitement is mounting in the Landfillart Project
You may remember a couple of years ago I wrote a post ‘Letters from the Border” about my entry into Landfillart Project where I had to create art on a car hubcap . Below is the latest update video I received about the project.
“Hubcaps Become Canvas for Strange Art”
On June 1, 2011 The Associated Press released a wonderful wire service news story about our international Landfillart Project.Our story was featured in hundreds of newspapers and many broadcast television news stories.
Tags: Artist interview, collecting, Hubcap Art, Landfill Project, Reclaimed art, Recycled art, Sculpture, Street art, street litter
Posted in abandoned, Artist interview, Hubcap Art, Landfill Project, Reclaimed art, recycled art, Street art, street litter | No Comments »
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
WATCH my…
Gleaning Paris for Art Materials video. From the streets of Paris I collect stuff,junk to create with, plus other inspirations behind my ideas. Works in progress from my studio’s in Paris, Spain and Australia. Photos taken in Paris, Spain and Australia.
All artwork copyright to Jenny Davis
Tags: "art materials", abstract art, abstract art, Alternative spaces, Alternative spaces, Art materials, art paris "rubbish spain art" "australian artist" painting, artist story, blog feature, collecting, Collecting, creating, Europe, Hard garbage, Inspiration, inspiration, Installation, Installation, jenny davis, Jenny Davis, jennydavis art, outlook8studio, Paris, Photography, Photography, Reclaimed art, Recycled art, Sculpture, Sculpture, Street art, street litter, Studio, travel, Uncategorised, underground, Video, walking
Posted in artist story, blog feature, creating, Europe, Paris, Reclaimed art, Street art, street litter, Uncategorised, underground, Video | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Latest news!
I’ve just been featured at Artsy Shark. Thank you! Carolyn Edlund for all your hard work and for doing such a great job promoting artists and getting their work seen.
Featured Artist Jenny Davis
Artsy Shark presents Australian artist Jenny Davis. Her mixed media work uses recycled and reclaimed materials. Enjoy her portfolio and see more about Jenny here.
Jenny Davis is an Australian artist, working from studios in Victoria, Australia and Paris, France, where she sometimes lives. As an artist, she enjoys working in many disciplines including: painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, collage, recycled design, sound and virtual worlds. Jenny has shown her work in many countries, including Australia, Germany, Spain, France and USA. Her work is in private and public collections across Australia, UK, Europe and the U.S.A.
Starting out primarily as an abstract painter and sculptor, Jenny’s arts practice has evolved and crosses over into many areas and disciplines. Recycling and reusing items in her work is very important. Stuff that usually goes into landfills and gleaned from the streets of Melbourne and Paris, or wherever she travels. Street litter, food packaging, advertising materials, advertising materials and all kind of paper ephemera are collected and saved for this purpose.
“All this wonderful stuff I reclaim and use in my collage and sculpture.”
“My source of creativity is spontaneous. It can mean spending days even weeks in the studio and strange places contemplating and “collecting energy”. Once I focus and sit with that energy it can take off in all areas. I then definitely need to put down a feeling or emotion, with colour, marks, words, assembled objects, or digital images still and moving. Whatever it takes to get it out! I use various techniques, materials and tools to realize my ideas.
The same goes with my photography. It’s spontaneous and unrehearsed. I like to tell strange stories with my photography and will put myself in uncomfortable spaces to achieve this. I have a wonderful space I found in Paris, I call the dungeon. I can spend hours down there waiting for something to take off. “
At the moment, I am fascinated by the narrative we tell ourselves, when placed in unfamiliar situations. Our mind seems to fly into “spontaneous imagination” and not focus in the moment. I want to seize those imaginary stories and create something with it.
I love spaces underground. There’s a life underneath the earth, and people don’t know about it, but it’s very busy and living, I have taken photos of the Eiffel Tower but I go under it, and look at closer fragments. I’m inspired by many things: Creative minds, Science as art, varies art movements and artists, Ernst, Miro, Tapies, Surrealism, Dada, Abstract Expressionists’, Natural history, Psychology, de-construction , Chaos theory, collecting found- objects and street litter, graffiti, street art, books, vintage and antique, travel and more.
Tags: abstract art, abstract art, Art for sale, Art for sale, Artist interview, artist promotions, artist story, Arts marketing, Arts marketing, Arts promotion, Arts promotion, ArtsBus, artsy shark, blog feature, Collage, collage, collecting, Collecting, creating, Drawing, Drawing, Exhibitions, Exhibitions, Famous artists, Featured artist, inspiration, Inspiration, jenny davis, Jenny Davis, Paris, paris art, Paris Art, Photography, Photography, Reclaimed art, Recycled art, recycled art, Sculpture, Sculpture, street litter, Uncategorised, Video
Posted in Artist interview, artist promotions, artist story, ArtsBus, artsy shark, blog feature, creating, Famous artists, Featured artist, Paris, Reclaimed art, street litter, Uncategorised, Video | No Comments »
Friday, May 13th, 2011
My French son-in-law can be so much fun. When I go over to Paris we both go out and glean stuff off the streets. We do it on foot as we don’t have a car. Usually we leave my daughter at home as she is not as keen as us, to collect what we like. Once we are back at the apartment with our stash, I sift through it and set aside a little to play with and then I send the rest back home to Australia.
I haven’t been to France for over a year now and today I received a mysterious brown box in the post from Paris.I wasn’t expecting anything so, I was very excited to open it.
I eagerly opened the box and inside was a gorgeous pile of stuff. When I say stuff, I don’t mean glamorous things from Paris, like Loreal , Chanel or Louis Vuitton hand bags. I mean, the box was a treasure trove of French ‘detritus” litter, junk, rubbish. Stuff that usually goes into landfill, stuff gleaned from the streets of Paris. Food packaging, pretty boxes, champagne bottle tops, clothing tags, fabric scraps, glow in the dark bits of plastic, advertising and all kind of paper ephemera plus a replenish supply of baguette bags for my handmade books ….
All this wonderful stuff I reclaim and use in my collage and sculpture.
Merci, Merci , Merci ! Davidx
View my video on “Gleaning Paris for Art Materials”
Tags: Art Books, Art materials, Artists books, Books, boxes, channel, Collage, collecting, Collecting, Craft, creating, Europe, French, Hard garbage, Inspiration, Merci, paper ephemera, Paris, Paris Art, ralph laurence, recycled art, Recycled art, Sculpture, Sculpture, Street art, street litter, Uncategorised, underground spaces, Vintage fabrics, Wine Labels
Posted in Craft, creating, Europe, Paris, Street art, street litter, Uncategorised | No Comments »
Monday, April 18th, 2011
“Handmade Urban Trash book + Bag of Bits” 100% Recycled
*Recycle
*Reuse
*Remake
I don’t like to waste anything, so,recently I made a series of wire-bound books made from materials I recycled.The books are inspired by the 3 R’s and my interest into underground spaces, tunnels, derelict warehouses, city apartment storage areas, dilapidated factories & industrial spaces in Melbourne and Paris. I collect the debris left behind in the streets,consumer packaging,found objects, postcards, clothing tags, wires, bottle tops and more. All these things I like to incorporate into my pieces.
About my Books
A series of wire and hand punched, bound books decorated with wires and junk from France, plastic sheep tags and other found items. The front and back covers are glossy images from my original artworks created using street litter found from the suburbs of Melbourne Australia. Throughout the books you will discover, recycled papers, white with vintage graph papers, envelope patterned papers with hand – dyed tags and baguette bags from Paris made into pockets.Under the “Best Friends” rubber band you will find a bag of bits to embellish.
If you would like to buy a book for yourself or as a gift you can buy them here
Tags: Alternative spaces, Alternative spaces, Art Books, Art Books, Art for sale, Art for sale, Artists books, Books, Collecting, collecting, cottontail Craft & Vintage, Paris, Recycled art, recycled art, street litter, Uncategorised, Underground Spaces, underground spaces
Posted in Artists books, Books, cottontail Craft & Vintage, Paris, street litter, Uncategorised | No Comments »
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
My art is inspired by underground spaces and the debris left behind in the streets.
Graffiti, graphics and consumer packaging I collect from cities worldwide.
Have your speakers on and please enjoy my video! “Urban Strazz”
Tags: Alternative spaces, Alternative spaces, Andy warhol, Art for sale, Art for sale, ArtsBus, creating, creative space, creative space, Europe, Exhibitions, Exhibitions, inspiration, Street art, street litter, underground, underground spaces, Video
Posted in Andy warhol, ArtsBus, creating, Europe, Street art, street litter, underground, Video | 1 Comment »