Recycling Sucks! The History of Creative Reuse: Garth Johnson at TEDxEureka

Garth Johnson is a studio artist, writer and educator who lives in Eureka, California. In addition to maintaining the website Extreme Craft (www.extremecraft.com) Garth's writing has been featured in museum catalogs, magazines and books worldwide. His first book, 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse was released in by Quarry/Rockport publishers and his DVD, ReVision: Recycled Crafts for Earth-Friendly Living was released by Eyekiss Films last year. His artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

• Category

  Education

[sssooottt]

It should be mentioned that Ancient Greece's statues (bronze and marble) and monuments were mainly "recycled" not by Ancient Greeks but by the good christians... In Ancient Greece it wasn't accepted to melt statues dedicated to Gods. But even in the case this happened in order to create weapons and armors it can't be considered a lifestyle recycling but a survival action.

Of course re-using is much more convenient but recycling is inevitable considering nowadays mass production.

[dzordevjt]

Call me a cynic, but is turning recyclable materials into art necessarily the best use of these materials, if you think of all the art that is being produced already with non-reusable materials? I'll ask a provocative question: are too many of us dedicating our time solely to art in this day and age- that's to say, is there too much art as opposed to, smart engineering? I guess there is overlap, but even so.

[Dan Williams]

TED conferences suck. So pretentious, so lame.  Get off the stage, you're making a fool of yourself.

[ARRAV]

'Good' christians? Not really if they melt together unique objects like these... Even at the toughest times.

[Stephen Sisino]

Regarding your photo... That's an expression. The creation of a real world object for the sole purpose of evoking, so forgive that.

Now for the rest. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. The artistic expression is feeling it's way to something. -Some of the first flying machines- Desperately trying to relieve the burden of something that is gnawing at them. Everything after that is an invention of a third party. -Rockets to the moon from a Novel-

[dzordevjt]

Agreed! I guess a major unsettling issue is whether such wastefulness is sustainable. I suppose future generations won't be too happy looking back on a time when people lived carelessly luxurious lives because they weren't the ones picking up the bill.

[chaitanya krishnan]

wait.. theres actually a town called Eureka!

[Justin Ballew]

zzzzzzzzz....

[dzordevjt]

Sure, I'm also a great proponent of using something until it breaks before you reuse or recycle it- though planned obsolescence and improvements in technologies (like buying a more fuel efficient or less polluting car) do have an impact too, and I'm generally disparaging of the former.

Anyway, is expression in its own case worth anything? I suppose only sentimentally, or for understanding human psychology and thoughts. Most of the time I'll copy a picture to have my own- is that a selfish waste

[Stephen Sisino]

I like your view but I find it a tad incomplete. The usefulness of trash is a band-aid on there being trash in the first place. Art is blindly feeling the problem through it expressions. Never even thinking of the result as an end. The eye is only see an end to the expression. Picasso wasn't trying to invent he was unconsciously attempting to explain- film and cinema to himself. [my opinion]

We need to solve the problem anyway we can. That's why you feel anything at all about it.

[Harriete Estel Berman]

Garth, Enjoyed your lecture immensely! Wish I was one of your students.

Harriete

[dzordevjt]

I agree :) Art does strongly aid the creative process by challenging what we can create, but does that mean that art is an experimental stage in understanding that teaches us and inspires us, or is it an end in itself? I suppose a true utilitarian (is that the right word?) would say that art should be interactive- I guess in my view we should care that we don't make useful trash into something with too many different materials to be reused again, just to make it solely aesthetically pleasing :)