PULP: Reclaimed Materials Art and Design is a Toronto-based not-for-profit corporation set to encourage community building and environmental awareness. Funds raised during the event go to Evergreen Centre for Street-Involved Youth. Evergreen Centre provides varied and nutritious meals for at risk street youth at their youth drop-in centre. The 2018 event was the 6th annual party. The paper art party is a fundraiser designed to examine the current life cycle of paper materials among others and investigate alternative uses. This year the Super Wonder Gallery was turned into a blue bin playground. You can read about my highlights from last year's party here.
2018 highlights:
UNHOARD – Paper Star Net by Claire McMillan
This piece is a large net made from 1000 hand folded paper stars. The stars are made from documents that the artist has inexplicably hoarded for decades. The artist intends for the piece to be a reflection on our tendency to hoard, while also being an exercise in trusting herself, that she will not fundamentally change now that these objects are permanently transformed.
Electric Wings by Neda Saeedi (Lush Lemon Design)
Paper from old books & packaging cardboard.
A tribute to a special angel who found her wings and took flight
Cycle of Vogue by Nanzeen Lee
The artist created wearable art from reclaimed paper materials.
the Weave by Interspatial [with BluePrintJam]
The installation is made from re-purposed paper & plastic stripes. Stripes vary in length between 15’ and 18’, and are attached to a suspended wooden structure at the ceiling and a plate at the floor level by rubber bands and paper clips. The plastic stripes were recycled from another installation, done in the past year by Interspatial Design Collective. They are reused in a new way over the wooden structure. Non-thermal receipt paper was salvaged from a recycling bin of a restaurant. Fasteners were donated by various art supporters.
Shattered Cloud by Ryan Phyper
Suspended geometric forms made from recycled corrugated plastic sheets, rigged with light weight battery powered LED string lights that created a cascade of colour throughout the space.
Round Headed Wasp Paper Sol Evictus Bonnet by Kaya McGregor
This piece has a great origin story.
The artist was doing a winter storm walk on Toronto island from the Centre island farm to Artscape. Crossing the open field by the island school, an extraordinary missile fell from the snow thick sky into the drift ahead . A huge 2.5ft round headed wasp nest with no tree in sight.
The artist's theory – the island was a frozen globe of winter isolation after the ice storm, temperatures were at record lows – a myriad of birds frozen into the layers of ice. Exquisite ,macabre beauty. After weeks and weeks of no thaw or break – the birds were starving and exploring all options – dead larvae within the nests must have seemed a feast to the bird. But alas, her claws proved insufficient to carry such a load against the wind and weather.
And thus, her loss, the artist's gain.
Adhacks by Stephanie Avery
The artist uses salvaged magazine ads as her canvas, painting her own whimsical additions directly onto their pages to shift their content from being manipulative and insidious to hilarious and absurd.
This was an interactive installation and participants were invited to create their own artworks.
If you'd like to see more photos of the event, take a look at this album on Pulp's Facebook page.
Story and photos by Glodeane Brown
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