Happy belated July 4th!

Got a chance to go to Washington DC for the weekend holiday.  Kayaking, champagne pong, fireworks on the Mall (the big strip of grass between the Capitol building and the Washington Monument), friends and shooting stars were all in the mix.  None of these stopped me from finding some decent eco-art in our nations capital.

One of my friends suggested that we go to an event called Artomatic.  Since 1999, Artomatic has had 7 shows in the DC area featuring artists of different backgrounds and experience using various techniques, materials and mediums.  In a way, 8 floors of mixed art is a bad thing because a lot of the stuff is pretty crap (in my and others opinions) but there are a few dimonds in the rough.

The first exhibit that caught my eye were a cluster of organic forms “made individually from recycled materials”.  For more information about these decorative creations visit hadmatterart.com

David D’Orio‘s installation of rubber and medical tubes give off a distilled atmosphere.  The glass comes from surplus medical supplies, but the artist is looking for a lab with non-biohazard waste in the quantities he needs.

Christian Tribastone is an elementary school art teacher and painted these clean technical sketches on cardboard and brown bags.  He maintains an informal blog here

Mishka Jaeger finds music in old buttons, keys and other small discarded objects.

What happened to all your old toys?  Thrown away or collecting dust most likely.  Michael Stebbins and the group at Robot Disorder bring back some childhood memories in these playful 3-D canvasas.

Originally from Amsterdam, Erwin Timmers is the co-founder of the Washington Glass Studio and Washington Glass School.  Here he has made some retro glass boxes, with themes and methods that reflect his environmental mindset.

Sergio Martinez is a qualified architect who has “worked for various prestigious award winning architectural firms” in the DC metropolitan area.  He uses found, scrap, reclaimed or FSC certified wood for all his projects.  If you want to know more about his work, go to sergiomartinezarchitect.com

After walking around 4 floors of exhibits, it was nice to find a seat and rest my feet.  Finding these familiar forms made of 100% recycled paper took a load off, both physically and mentally.

I didn’t footslog through the enire 8 floors but needless to say there was something for everybody and from everybody there.  If you want to know more about Artomatic including how to submit your work, visit their website.

These above pieces were about 1% of the entire show and a guess would be upcycled art comprised less than 10% of the entire show .  Still it’s good to know that there are other eco-minded artists out there and as a whole we are making just that much difference to our lives and our planet.  Peace, love and good times.

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