Recycled Revelation

Ashland showed that almost anything can be turned into art with an unveiling this week of the town’s first 100 percent recycled-content public art mosaic.

Garbage and recycling company Recology Ashland Sanitary Service commissioned Ashland artist Sue Springer to create the ground-level mosaic near the North Mountain Park Nature Center on North Mountain Avenue.

The mosaic encircles a concrete pad, which itself supports a regular trash can and recycling containers for glass, plastic bottles and aluminum cans.

“You name it, it’s in there,” Springer said. “The idea is that anything can be used again.”

The mosaic includes salvaged bricks, glass bottle bottoms, bottle caps, jewelry, bicycle chains and gears, cut up credit cards, keys, broken tiles and dozens of other objects.

Springer said creating the mosaic got her thinking about how to reuse recyclables, rather than just tossing them into recycle bins to be trucked away.

“It’s really changed how I think about recycling,” she said.

The idea for the recycled content mural was born when Recology Zero Waste Specialist Risa Buck was talking with Linda Chesney, stewardship coordinator for the Ashland Parks and Recreation Department, about the need to revitalize North Mountain Park’s trash and recycling collection station.

Previously, garbage and recycling containers had been placed next to drab green electric utility boxes, where they didn’t stand out well.

Putting the containers atop the new mosaic makes them more noticeable, and also gets people thinking about garbage and recycling, Buck said.

“People can come and see it’s only trash if that’s how you treat it,” she said.

Two-year-old Wesley Koning of Ashland was enjoying the mosaic earlier this week, pointing out different objects to his mom, Rachel Koning.

“There’s a key. What number’s on it?” Rachel Koning asked her son.

“Two!” he answered.

Rachel Koning said she thinks the mosaic is a great addition to the park.

“It’s fantastic. It’s so great. It really highlights the recycling containers and it’s a great place for kids,” she said. “There are so many colors and shapes and numbers.”

http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130419/NEWS02/304190303

Glass, metal, keys, bike parts, bricks, tiles, stones, all reused to create a mosaic in
North Mountain Park

New Ashland Plaza

Ausland Group was honored to do the reconstruction of Ashland’s core public gathering space, its downtown Plaza.  It was completed on schedule, in time for the public dedication April 5, 2013 and in time to welcome the attendees of the Ashland Film Festival (www.ashlandfilm.org) held that weekend.  The design and materials for the Plaza were directed by Greg Covey of Covey Pardee Landscape Architects www.coveypardee.com.  Greg’s vision, attention to detail and responsiveness was key to a smooth construction process.

The Plaza is Ashland’s living room where locals and tourists alike gather and cross paths.  To that end, the redesign created more gathering space and seating than the prior layout and allows better flow to the pedestrian walkways in and out of the Plaza space.  The historic Lithia Water fountain continues to bubble along surprising and delighting visitors just as it has for decades. Seating space was significantly expanded and the functional benches also provided the backdrop for the ceramic mosaic art by Susan Springer. http://suespringerart.com/2013/04/04/ashland-plaza-mosaic-project/.  Springer was quoted by the Medford Mail Tribune as saying, “the artwork speaks to the flow of the creek, movement of people and passing of time.”  MMT December 11, 2012.  Wooden benches also stand out from the hardscape surfaces and were provided by Forms + Surfaces of Pittsburg, PA (www.forms-surfaces.com).  The new construction did allow for the placement of a time capsule at the end of the Plaza nearest Lithia Park and Ausland expects to be there for the opening in 2113, one hundred years from the dedication of the new Ashland Plaza.

http://auslandgroup.com/ashland-plaza-remodel/

Exciting news at the gallery for April!

The prints of  Inocente, the subject of an Academy Award winning film will be available at the gallery during the weekend of the Ashland Independent Film Festival April 5-7.  Inocente will be in the gallery for the First Friday Art Walk.  The film will be shown at the film Festival on Saturday noon…don’t miss this extraordinary event

ashland independent film festival– Ashland, Oregon 97520.

Love Me Always, Art by Inocente

Plaza mosaic layout begins

The Plaza project is moving forward, the slabs are complete, freeing up some space for the layout to begin.  The colorful wave forms will be set to a tile mesh, with mosaic elements interspersed between. Deep greens, light blues, golds, terra cotta, greys and moss integrate into a ceramic frieze of flow and movement.

After being cut, the waves will be laid out with mosaic, between and around the tiles.

All the elements will be laid out on a tile mesh, fastened in sheets for transport to the site for installation later this month.

These fired tiles will be waterjet cut locally in the wave pattern and then laid out to fit the seat walls at the Plaza with colorful mosaic additions.

The Jefferson Agrarian, extraordinary blog from the State of Jefferson…

http://www.jeffagrarian.com/?p=1650

Illahe Studios and Gallery Call for Artists • Fourth Annual Artist Book Exhibit.

Artist creates tribute to Joaquin Miller in McCloud

see link:  http://www.redding.com/news/2012/aug/14/artist-creates-tribute-to-joaquin-miller-in/

volunteers helping with the Recology mosaic at North Mountain Park Ashland

Your Kitchen Trash Reborn As Abstract Art : The Salt : NPR.