Stipends awarded for six-month scavenging process, exhibit in fall 2013
Five local artists were recently selected by a jury of arts and environmental professionals to participate in GLEAN, a program that will send them sorting through the region's trash in search of creative answers to the region's excessive waste generation. Each will create at least 10 pieces of art, results of which will be on exhibition at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center in September. The artists, whose typical media and styles vary from textiles to large-scale industrial and figurative sculpture, include Kim Lakin, Owen Premore, Eric Rosewall, Christopher Wagner and Vicki Wilson.
Paid a stipend to spend six months gleaning materials discarded at the Metro Central Transfer Station in Northwest Portland, the artists blog about their experience as they dig through discards and conjure creative ways to reassemble them into works of art.
Now in its third year, GLEAN prompts people to think about their consumption habits, inspire creative reuse and initiate larger conversations about the waste we generate. Administered by Cracked Pots, an environmental arts organization, the program is a collaboration between Recology, an employee-owned company that manages resource recovery facilities, and Metro, the regional government for the Portland metropolitan area. Inspiration for the program comes from the renowned Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program.
In its first two years, the local program attracted thousands of arts patrons, students and others. Last year, a video took viewers on a behind-the-scenes tour of the artists at work – both scavenging in the transfer station and at their studios
Those who attend the exhibit nominate their favorite piece by each of the five artists shown.