The GLEAN Art Program has announced its roster of 2019 artists. Five artists were selected from a pool of nearly 120 applicants.
Meet this year's GLEAN artists
GLEAN is an annual art program that taps the creativity of artists to inspire people to think about their consumption habits and what they throw away. Artists rummage the piles of Metro Central transfer station for the materials they’ll use to create works then exhibited in a local gallery.
Interested in serving?
If you have an interest in arts and the environment, you could be a candidate for the GLEAN jury. Contact GLEAN program manager Leslie Vigeant for more information.
To select these artists each year, there is an application and jury process. The jury shifts from year to year, with one space reserved for a former GLEAN artist, and a seat at the table for each of the program’s three partners plus a representative from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Additional jurors are recruited to represent diversity across race, geography, age and discipline and with work in fields related to either arts or the environment. Members of this year’s jury include local arts leaders, professionals in the garbage and recycling industry, and past GLEAN artists.
These jurors spent hours together reviewing applications. The process is rigorous. It includes both initial application reviews and then in-person interviews for selected finalists. We chatted with a few jurors to hear about what excites them most about GLEAN, and whether they would offer any advice to this year’s artists.
Mia Reiko Braverman is part of the development team at The Right Brain Initiative (a program of the Regional Arts and Culture Council) as well as an installation and paper arts artist.
What excites you most about the GLEAN program?
What excites me most is the unexpected. As much as we can tell from an artist’s portfolio, we have no idea what they will find at the transfer station, how it will inspire them and what their final outcome will be. It is an honor to watch the artistic process unfold.
How has GLEAN affected the way you make art?
For the short time I have been involved with GLEAN, it has actually had quite an effect. I was so inspired after seeing all the work and wondering where each artist would take this opportunity. The day after the panel I spent the entire day in the studio. I made a planner out of old papers that I had been saving for years. As we continue and I follow the finalists through their artistic process, I imagine I will only continue to be inspired.
Deborah Munk is the manager of the Artist in Residence Program at Recology. She was instrumental in bringing the GLEAN program to Portland in 2010.
What excites you most about the GLEAN program?
What really excites me is when an artist takes an object that was deemed worthless and embeds that object with meaning, value and perhaps beauty. This process of transformation helps others realize the value in the discarded object while creating a space for wonder and realization.
How has GLEAN affected your consumption habits?
After all these years of working at Recology, I continue to be shocked by what people purchase, sometimes never use, and pay to throw away. I try to buy quality over quantity and purchase products that are truly environmentally-friendly. Most people are familiar with the many R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, rot, repair, but my current favorite is refuse. Refuse the straw, refuse the tchotchkes, refuse single-use items whenever possible. Just because I am offered free swag doesn’t mean I have to take it, and unless I will use the “gift” for a long time, I will turn it down.
Brenda Mallory is a visual artist and 2015 GLEAN artist-in-residence.
How has GLEAN affected the way you make art?
My time as a GLEAN artist has had an enduring influence on my art-making. Four years later I am still using some of the materials I collected from the transfer station. And some of the concepts I began exploring with those materials have been translated into other media.
If you could offer GLEAN artists one piece of advice, what would it be?
Keep your mind open. Go to the transfer station often. And I'll say that again — go often. There were days when nothing spoke to me and I would go home empty-handed. Other days I had a carfull. It's a bit like gambling. And keep your spirits up, because the first few times you go, it is very depressing to see all the great stuff that people throw away. It makes you question yourself and the society you live in.
Owen Premore is the directing curator of Oregon State University’s Art About Agriculture Program, an advisor on the Clackamas County Arts Alliance Advisory Council, and a member of the Clackamas County Public Art Steering Committee. His nonprofit, Art in Oregon, aims to support and empower creative makers of all skill levels and backgrounds. He was a 2013 GLEAN artist-in-residence.
How has GLEAN affected the way you make art?
My way of making hasn’t changed drastically before or after GLEAN; I’m just as scrappy as ever. GLEAN did provide me with access to resources that allowed me to explore a style of making that I had only dreamed of perusing. It was such a joy to work in this fashion that I still bat around ideas as if I still had this level of access to stuff. I feel GLEAN has had a greater impact on my material choices when designing and building a temporary exhibition or display. The amount of waste generated from a single corporate photoshoot or weekend promotional display was shocking!
If you could offer GLEAN artists one piece of advice, what would it be?
If you are looking for something specific, you often won’t find it until after you discover an alternative solution. Trust your alternative solution. The goodies in hazardous waste are very helpful, but difficult to part with after the program ends. Assume all cans of expanding foam are dead. Does anyone want a bottle of silk plant cleaner?
Elise Guidoux serves on the board of the environmental arts nonprofit crackedpots, a GLEAN partner. She has a degree in fine arts and is passionate about reuse, recycling and scavenging.
What excites you most about the GLEAN program?
Being witness to the the incredible creativity, skills, and visions from the artists as they create quality high-class art from trash.
If you could offer GLEAN artists one piece of advice, what would it be?
It is a coveted privilege to have access to scavenge at the dump, so I say collect all you can while you can and make something beautiful or useful. Most of all, enjoy the moment.
Christine Lewis is a Metro Councilor, representing District 2. Metro is a GLEAN partner.
What excites you most about the GLEAN program?
I am excited about the partnership that supports GLEAN — government, nonprofit and private sector partners all working together. We support the artists for their time gleaning materials and creating art. I love that we are able to raise awareness around our consumption and waste habits as a society through really beautiful pieces.
How has GLEAN affected your consumption habits?
After visiting a transfer station and getting a peek behind the curtain, I certainly look at things differently. I wonder why we need so much packaging. Why so much of what we are encouraged to buy is only designed to fill a short term need. I am not a minimalist, I am much closer to a maximalist, and so I’ve really tried to confront what that means since the world doesn’t need so much stuff.
Other members of the GLEAN jury include visual artist and cultural arts producer Pepe Moscoso; sculptor, installation artist and professor Christine Clark; and GLEAN Program Manager Leslie Vigeant.
GLEAN was created in 2010 and is made possible through a partnership between Metro, the government that manages the greater Portland area's garbage and recycling system; Recology, an employee-owned company that manages resource recovery facilities; and crackedpots, a local environmental arts nonprofit.
Learn more about the jurors and follow GLEAN on Facebook and Instagram for artist announcements and behind-the-scenes updates.