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Reuse, Recycle and promote creativity in the world?  Create positive change in the lives of some disadvantaged kids?  Yes please.

Trash Mash-Up is a collaborative community art project. TMU enriches our community by developing creative connections through workshops and performances.
Using disposable materials, participants construct original pageant costumes inspired by mask traditions from around the world. This project reduces waste and inspires people to see each other and our environment in a new way.

We met Jesse and Bridget at last year’s Independent Arts and Media Expo, and they are two of the most fun, warm, and energetic people.  It is clear that they have a real passion for what they are doing and for the kids they work with.  They, like us, do this project in their free time outside of their jobs that make money.  But they are fiscally sponsored, so anyone can make a tax-deductable donation.

And they need your junk! See here for a list of items that you can donate.

They have parades to show off the creationss and costumes and there are three that are upcoming in San Francisco:

C’mon, work it, work it!  This round we choose the top 5 or so proposals and then have the subscribers vote.

http://www.thepresentgroup.com/?tpg=artists

Posted via web from thepresentgroup’s posterous

Invisible Exports, a gallery out of New York, is getting into the subscription game.  They’ve invited 12 curators from all over the world to choose one artist each to create a limited edition to be sent out to their subscribers.  Their price point is higher: $2400 for the year (including shipping) and it is limited to 50 subscribers on a first come-first serve basis.  They are promoting it not on the tails on the artists that will be chosen (subscribers won’t even know who will be on the roster until the edition arrives at their doorstep), but instead on the tails of the curators – whose bios you can peruse on their website.  Their tagline: “HAVE MUSEUM-LEVEL TASTEMAKERS CHOOSE WORK FOR YOUR COLLECTION”  It seems as though the works will be mostly prints of one kind or another at the 17 x 22″ size- but they allow for the possibility of alternative formats.

Info on the AMC (Artist of the Month Club) here.

In a study funded by the makers of Nalgene products, the habits of 3,750 individuals living in the top 25 largest U.S. cities were surveyed, finding that San Francisco is America’s least wasteful city.  (Hooray!–Oakland wasn’t surveyed)

The study gauged behavior on waste, sustainability, shopping, transportation and more. The results were weighted to give more credit to behaviors that had immediate and significant impact on the planet (e.g., driving less, recycling or reducing trash) to small habits that are more indicative of a mindset and non-wasteful approach to life (e.g., reusing containers, limiting shower time or saving wrapping paper and ribbons).

The study shows that more and more people are readily embracing small, everyday habits to cut waste, but convenience is still trumping prudence when it comes to significant wasteful behavior including transportation and personal conservation efforts.  (public transportation, composting, using a rain barrel and a clothesline, and avoiding using a car for trips under 2 miles)

I found this sortof amazing:

*60 percent of urban Americans that live in a city with public transportation and own a car, said they never use public transportation

*65 percent of urban Americans are planning to drive for trips that less than two miles from home rather than taking public transportation, biking and/or walking

*We’re still a car culture. 69 percent of those urban Americans surveyed do not plan on taking public transportation

And so you know:#2=NYC, #3=Portland, #25(last place)=Atlanta

Ross Dickinson, Valley Farms, 1934

4/2/09 UPDATE:
A Similar New Deal Program, the short-lived (6 mo) Public Works of Art Project, paid artists to depict “the American Scene.”  The Smithsonian’s American Art Museum has an exhibit, “1934: A New Deal for Artists” showing some of the works that were created under this program.  This show will run through January 3, 2010, so there is plenty of time to check it out.  They also have created a neat website where you can locate the places that some of the paintings from this collection depict.  Fun Fact: The murals at Coit Tower (San Francisco) are the largest project completed under this program.

A really great collection of articles and resources is coming to a close after 2 months of input from various writers, artists, and contributors. Hrag Vartanian wraps up the discussion by pointing to the main topics of discussion and notes other things that have been talked about all around the intertubes.  The next topic for discussion is, “Art and Economics”

Everything old is new again, (left) a Soviet-era poster by Alexander Rodchenko, and (right) a contemporary poster by Shepard Fairey

FLASH POINTS is a regular conversational series (on the ART:21 blog)that focuses on issues relevant to the state of the art world at large, contemporary art education, and issues artists face today. You can participate by contributing feedback, posing a follow-up question, sharing anecdotes, or suggesting new topics in the comments area below.