Collect Recycled Art Materials

Did you know that you have many materials around your house that you could use to create works of art? Look and see what you can find.

scraps of string, ribbon, wire

Boxes – all sizes or types

Plastic containers, bottles – all kinds

Bottle caps, all kinds of container lids

Paper rolls – toilet paper, paper towels

Egg cartons

Paper/plastic cups, bowls, plates

Scraps of paper, foil, fabric, cardboard, wood, Styrofoam

Old CD’s, broken computer parts, paper clips, pens that don’t write,

Old buttons or beads

Glue, scissors, tape, paint, crayons, markers

A low temperature glue gun (with parent supervision)

Collect anything you can find! Use what you have!

CREATE

Place your found objects out on a table or some type of work surface and begin to experiment by moving the objects around, putting pieces together different ways, cutting or changing the objects, trying different ideas for a work of art. Maybe the pieces will remind you of something real and recognizable or maybe the pieces will remind you of something imaginary.

Your relief sculpture could be large or small.

Your relief sculpture could be created in a box and then painted with a Monochromatic color scheme, which means painting with one color. You could add white to make your one color lighter or black to make your one color darker.

Toy Making

When Alexander Calder was young, he collected items from around his house and created Toys. What kind of toy could you create with your recycled objects? Could you make parts of your toys move like Calder's Circus?

Mobiles

Look at these mobiles created by Alexander Calder. A mobile is a hanging sculpture that moves.

Can you design a mobile using your recycled materials?

Look at this huge hanging mobile installation at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.

Wearable Art

Can you create something that you can wear with your recycled materials?