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One person's trash might be another person's art.
Photo by Dee Hippert-Jones

by John Byrne Barry
Environmental Expression Through Art Session
Salvage Artists: From Trash to Treasure—Mike Faruggia, Norcal Waste; Paul Fresina, Norcal Waste Artist-in-Residency Program director; Dee Hippert-Jones, artist-in-residence

Three years ago, Dee Hibbert-Jones got paid to rummage through other people’s garbage and make art.

She served as “artist-in-residence” at Norcal Waste Systems' San Francisco dump and transfer station. The only program of its kind in the country, this residency gives local artists unlimited access to garbage so they can make art that inspires people to recycle more and conserve natural resources.

Hippert-Jones was a panelist on the Summit’s “Salvage Artists: From Trash to Treasure” workshop, along with Mike Farrugia and Paul Fresina of Norcal.

The 1,200-square-foot art studio is located at the San Francisco Recycling and Disposal, Inc.’s Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center, which is where city residents bring their trash before it goes to the landfill. Recyclable items are sorted through first and shipped to recycling facilities, but that still leaves plenty of  trash for Hippert-Jones and other artists to mine for material. 

Artists mine the transfer station for treasure before the garbage is trucked to a landfill. (Photo by Dee Hippert-Jones)

The program, running since 1990, gives artists 24-hour access to a well-equipped studio, a monthly stipend, and an exhibit at the end of their residency, but artists seem most excited about having 24 hour access to the materials. The program aslo include tours for school children and artists and art shows every three months that are open to the public.

“When I first arrived at the dump,” said Hippert-Jones, “I was stunned by the mass of waste in the public drop-off area. I found amazing things — first edition books, a diamond ring, a series of correspondence from 1849.”

Artist-in-Residency Program Director Paul Fresina, who moderated the panel, said that some artists look through the refuse for specific material, like colored glass to make sculpture, while others find something interesting and then figure out how to make it art once they’re back in the studio.

“What artists find depends on what they are looking for,” Hippert-Jones said.

After the presentations, workshop participants and panelists discussed the question of whether it’s art if you take something from the dump, clean it up, and put it on a pedestal. Or do you have to transform it somehow?

“Art is a conversation,” said Hippert-Jones, and the very act of choosing something and highlighting it can be an artistic act.

While Fresina acknowledged the actual amount of waste diverted is insignificant, he said the program has succeeded in inspiring people to conserve more and waste less.

-- 09/10/2005 Sat
3pm