Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
One man's junk is another's art supply
Group gives new life to unwanted stuff
PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Andrea Stuart and Melanie Janzen brandish pots full of art supplies rescued from the waste bin.
NATIONAL statistics might peg Manitobans as lousy recyclers, but one local program is keeping vanloads of waste out of the city's landfills and putting it in the hands of eager artists.ArtsJunktion mb diverts huge quantities of waste paper, thrift store discards, card stock and other potential art supplies from the waste bins of local businesses and into classrooms, daycares and art studios.
"Membership is free; the junk is free," said co-organizer Andrea Stuart.
Stuart said she and fellow organizer Melanie Janzen got the idea of collecting useful but unwanted waste for art projects three years ago, after seeing a similar project in Toronto.
"'How hard could it be?' was what we thought," laughed Janzen.
For the last two years, the pair has helped manage the program in their spare time, storing up donations and offering them to anyone interested.
During the week, they both work at Constable Edward Finney School, where Stuart's grades 1 and 2 classroom is full of ArtsJunktion finds: shelves lined with tubs of beads, wine-bottle corks, scraps of fabric and flexible wire.
Even the plastic tubs, originally used for CDs, were donated by a company that had them left over.
"Anything I take is something I wouldn't be able to buy in a store," said Stuart.
A dozen volunteers help run ArtsJunktion, and more than 20 businesses have donated materials so far. Group members include mostly teachers, artists, daycare workers and non-profit and environmental groups.
Some artists find surprising new uses for donated junk: Janzen recalls some old vinyl records and pieces of leather sewn into purses and notebooks.
Stuart and Janzen hope to find free warehouse space in or around the Exchange District to store a higher volume of donations, but for now they keep everything in an unused classroom at Seven Oaks Middle School. Stuart estimates the room's contents could fill up 20 vans, and said they give away a roomful of items every month.
Information on donations is available at www.artsjunktion.mb.ca. Most items are welcome, but Stuart said they don't need more clothing and can't accept electronic waste, and have more than enough fabric for now.
ArtsJunktion opens to the public on the second Tuesday and fourth Thursday of every month from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Seven Oaks Middle School, 830 Salter St.
lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 3, 2009 B1
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