The line between art and junk is sometimes a blurry one, depending on your taste. This week the Canvas Community Art Studio and Gallery will host an event that deliberately fuses the two together, but in a way that highlights the former rather than the latter.
Family Junk Day, held from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at the Seward Street facility, encourages locals to give their old, unused items a higher purpose: new life as an element in an art piece.
Activities will including painting on nontraditional surfaces, sculpture creation, mosaic and jewelry making, screen printing and more.
Raw materials for art projects can be dropped off anytime before the event begins. Suggestions for what to bring include small metal objects such as watch parts and eyeglass frames, as well as industrial items such as stove burners. Small pieces of wood and other building materials are also welcome.
Canvas Artistic Coordinator MK MacNaughton said Junk Day was the Canvas’ first ever community event when they opened in 2006, and that its been a favorite of hers ever since. She said she appreciates the idea of repurposing unused items to create something new and that she’s continually inspired by what others bring to the table.
“One of my favorite things about working at the Canvas is that we open up the doors and people come in with ideas you’d never dream off,” she said.
Everybody has stuff in their drawers they’re not using, she added, from little plastic ice-cream spoons to keys. Also welcome are pieces of pottery for mosaic making and wood for mosaic backings and sculptures.
This year she also hopes to set up a place ofr shadow art, which is sculpture that, when lit from behind, casts a silhouette on the wall.
There will also be a paper-making station manned by paper artist Sherri McDonald and a wire station for creating things with wire. Telephone wire, reclaimed from Telephone Hill during construction of the new parking garage, will be on hand for participants’ use, as well as other items.
Pie in the Sky will be open during this event.
Junk Day is supported by Friends of Recycling and is free and open to the public.
For more information, visit www.canvasarts.org.
