The Cooperative Gallery 213 is known for breaking ground in the local art scene and the current show "Off the Wall" continues that tradition. The theme is taking art "off the wall" literally and figuratively, and the curators found a theme of "environmental art" among the 30 artists who submitted works. Most directly addressing environmental problems is Peg Johnston and Shawna Stevenson's "The Waterfall: Plastic is Forever" which is made of many hundreds of cut up water bottles to form an inside/outside "waterfall." Inspired by the work of North Carolina environmental artist Bryant Holsenbeck, the piece makes the point that our dependence on plastic rather than more sustainable drinking containers is polluting the Earth. "We in the USA create more waste by far than any other country in the world," said Peg Johnston, "Art installations like this may help us raise awareness about our own impact on the environment."
Don Sharpe's delightful sculptures of found objects also use waste to create art. Sharpe finds discarded objects in his walks along the river and uses them to create fantastical creatures or elaborate tableaux such as "Mouse Trap", a re-creation of the Rube Goldberg type children's game. He has several sculptures in the show worth a visit to "Off the Wall."
Aubrey Clark and Irene Lawson also created decorative fish and birds out of scrap materials such as coat hangers, credit cards, plastic bags and scraps of fabric. Fish extended the water theme with Judy Salton's giant fish made of chicken wire and John Thomson's delicate balsa wood fish/bird hanging from the ceiling.
The artists will speak about their art and the artists that have inspired them. "Found objects and environmental art, have been used by artists since the beginning of the 20th century," commented Judy Salton, "and we will explore those antecedents at Third Thursday, July 17th at 7 pm. There is no entrance fee to the program at the Cooperative Gallery 213 State St Binghamton.
For more photos, go to Facebook.com/cooperativegallery213.