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there was a land of Here there wasn’t any waste or discarded items – through a myriad of transformations everything could be transformed into a useful thing of beauty." |
A fresh look at materials
We all have amazing array of resources all around us at our disposal when you take into account the wealth of the natural world and the excess produced by humans. The Re-creations way of looking at materials follows this simple scale:
On the one end of the scale are the elements which can be shaped and moved often giving a temporary work of art, then natural materials, many of which degrade naturally can be composted, through the spectrum of man-made materials which become less degradable the further along the scale they occur. Many man-made materials that are not disposed of properly will be around on the earth long after our children’s children.
Our aim?
Well, with a huge array of tried and tested eco-alternatives at our fingertips – there is less need to purchase materials that are manufactured solely for arts and crafts purposes.
Our rule of thumb
When considering the types of materials we use, we try and achieve a balance by utilising the materials them in their natural environment. For example if you are using leaves in your craft, you wouldn’t choose to cover them with layers of toxic paint from a spray can. You would instead look for ways of enhancing the natural beauty of leaves with other natural materials. Similarly, when transforming a plastic coated carton in a project it is important to enhance the attractive parts of the packaging design and utilise manmade materials to do this.
Eco values
At Re-creations we are of the opinion that having the leisure time to make and be creative is a luxury. What a privilege to be able to devote our time to creating something for the pleasure in it! When we look at our basic desire to create something we can see that it originated from necessity. Our ancestors will have made what they needed for their survival in terms of food, health, shelter, warmth and spiritual needs.
The nature of environmental arts is to step away from a convenience lifestyle and rethink the way we value our possessions. This involves a degree of playfulness and creativity, and continual assessment of our needs. Much of what is created is of a temporary nature. A play cloth may become a toy rabbit for a while, then a head scarf and next a blanket. A glass jar may contain shop bought sauce in winter, then be reused as a vase for spring, and as a homemade salad dressing jar for summer, and as a gift in the winter…. and the cycle continues…
