Students Create Art Using Recyclables
Pensacola – University of West Florida students are turning trash into works of art.
Last week, Carrie Fonder, a lecturer in the UWF Department of Art, led her class in creating an “inflatable museum” made out of plastic bags.
Fonder’s Art Appreciation class, attended by students from a variety of disciplines, inflated the installation in front of the Center for Fine & Performance Arts at UWF on Oct. 27. The installation was made by cutting clean recycled bags into large squares, while making sure there were no holes in them. Then, the bags were taped together and drawn on.
“It was really fun,” said Lucy McLaurin, a junior majoring in education. “At first it was hard. But, once we started making it, you could see it coming together. And it’s cool seeing everyone’s art work on the outside.”
The museum was inflated through the use of fans and cold air. However, the humidity in the environment did not allow the inflated structure to float in the air.
The project was inspired by Tomás Saraceno, an Argentinian performance and installation artist and architect, whose project “Aerocene” consisted of a sculpture that floated without using anything other than cold air. Workshops and gatherings of “Aerocene” have been presented in 21 different countries, including Japan, France and the United States. Saraceno’s project sends a message of creativity and simplicity, showing how the world can work by itself without the use of burning fuels or gases.
Fonder’s class also presented the inflatable museum Nov. 5 at Foo Foo Fest in downtown Pensacola.
Written by: Juliana Lievano, Student Intern for CREO.
