Teacher Corner

Search Terms

When seaching the internet for information on recycled art you may wish to search using the following terms:

junk art

found art

recycled art

junk sculpture

recycled crafts

trash art

Video

A great video to show your students before beginning their projects.  A great source of inspiration!

Video

This innovative and dynamic program includes a video, an Interdisciplinary Curriculum Guide, and 20 color prints. The 35–minute video follows artists working with recycled materials in five countries. Provides innovative ideas for creating recycled art. Students learn that creativity with recycled materials spans global cultures.

Visuals

This set of prints show the kinds of art that can be created from discarded materials. Included are African baskets made from telephone wire and grain bags, a sculpture composed entirely of car bumpers, a found-object collage, and many other examples of recycled art. The set also includes a teacher’s guide.

Books

The following are books that are technically out of the age range of the children I am focusing on but I wanted to include them because they have been a source of inspiration for me and my students.  Technically, the projects are too difficult for these students to complete but that does not mean they are too young to be inspired by what they see.

TrashARTist

Below is a link to the TrashARTist Contest... It's a local contest so you won't be able to enter but it would be cool to start something like it in your community.  It also shows examples of projects from various age groups.

A Perfect Place to Start

There's no machinery at The Imagination Factory, and smokestacks don't pollute the air. Instead, we teach children and their caregiverscreative ways to recycle by making art. The lessons and activities include drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, papier-mache, marbling, and crafts.

 

Don't know where to start?  This site is the perfect place.  Check out the Trash Masher,. you can click on the type of waste materials you have and it will find art/recycling activities which call for them.  It also educates students about landfills and recycling.

If I Was

I like the song playing during this video... "If I Was" can be downloaded free at http://www.freeplaymusic.com.  I think it would be fun to play this during class too!

Trash Art

Garbage Dump

Here is an interesting video that incorporates images of landfills and artists actually going through the garbage to become inspired.