Latest news with #Scrap
San Francisco Chronicle
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Recology art show brings the dump into the gallery
Part of living in San Francisco is having a special awareness of our trash. In our environmentally-minded region, it has long been gospel to recycle, compost and be conscious of how our consumption habits create waste. Trash also intersects with our culture, so to speak. The Bay Area has a rich history of assemblage art (when artists use found or scavenged objects to create new works), and we are the home of legendary reuse nonprofit Scrap, co-founded by artist Ruth Asawa and arts administrator Anne Marie Thielen. 'I feel so fortunate to be out there at the dump,' said Deborah Munk, manager of Recology's Artist in Residence program and its Environmental Learning Center. For the past 35 years, the program has hosted more than 190 professional artists and 60 student artists in disciplines including painting, sculpture, video, photography, installation and performance. Recology is celebrating that milestone with an exhibition, 'Art/Education/Community: 35 Years of Recology AIR' at the Minnesota Street Project. On view through Aug. 26 in the building's atrium, Gallery 107 and media room, the exhibition includes a sampling of both past artists-in-residence and student artists. Part of Recology's Sustainability Education program, the artist residency was founded by artist and activist Jo Hanson in 1990. The four-month period gives artists studio space at the company's Crocker Industrial Zone transfer center as well as a stipend and (most excitingly) access to materials recovered from the Public Reuse and Recycling Area. Artists are encouraged to be innovative and to make use of what's available onsite as they create new work for an exhibition and public program at the end of their terms. The artists and their work are part of the educational tours and workshops that happen on-site, and the Captain Planeteer in me can't help but get excited about any program that combines sustainability with creativity. Anyone expecting to see a very literal show of reused garbage is mistaken. While transformation and repurposing of materials is certainly a significant theme in the exhibition, there's a subtlety to much of the work. Kathy Aoki's 2020 'Disgraced Patriarchal Monuments: Mansplaining' — constructed from foam, signage board and a reused mannequin head depicting a bust of man in a suit — is as funny as her ongoing 'Koons Ruins' series. It's crafted so precisely you might not have guessed the materials were recycled. Michelle 'Meng' Nuguyen's 2024 sculptures depicting a Vietnamese gas pump, travel agency advertisement and a street sign are made from found wood, house paint and discarded yard items. Each piece is impeccably constructed and pristinely painted, like pop art objects. Munk said that the materials people dump and donate remain relatively consistent (paint, wood and paper are all in ready supply) but that often, artists find things that inspire their work. Construction strand board and plywood that were dumped became the basis of former staff member Victor Yañez-Lazcano's 2019 wall-mounted sculpture 'Trill,' which shows the different colored layers of the edge of materials like a mille-feuille pastry. And sometimes, as if by magic, materials will present themselves just when an artist needs them, like the costume jewelry Laura Roth Hope found to wrap around the skeleton she carved out of found plywood in her 2025 work 'Body of Land, Body of Water III.' Jamil Hellu's 2014 photo 'Splattered' shows his body covered in discarded paint as part of a community performance. The image exudes beauty and violence. Likewise, there's something both optimistic and melancholy about Kija Lucas' 2021 photo 'Untitled (5 Brooms and a Rake)' showing the objects in a darkly lit still life while a gold cloth glimmers behind them like a religious icon. Upon entering and exiting, you pass Torreya Cummings' 2023 installation 'Et in Arcadia Ego' in which an island made from fencing, plastic flora and fauna, inflatable palm trees and a shell chandelier hang upside down over a mirrored platform. When you see the plastic skeleton reflected back in the mirrors, it reads as a vital critique of mankind's continued destruction of paradise. 'I think the theme that runs through all the work here is about building community, honoring people, honoring our legacy, honoring objects,' said Munk. 'Our artists are not necessarily environmentalists, but when they leave, it changes them and their work practice.' The story of our city and the era we live in can be found in what people throw away. A show like this also speaks to ways we can rethink the problem of waste. 'We've all heard 'Recycle, reuse,'' said Munk. 'This is just a different way to reach people.'
Axios
28-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
San Francisco arts hub is looking for a new home
San Francisco's beloved reuse and arts education center — Scrap — is looking for a new home. State of play: The non-profit has been renting its Bayview warehouse from SFUSD for the past 25 years, but the building is slated for demolition in 2026 to make way for a central kitchen for the school district. Zoom in: The warehouse is a treasure trove for artists, creatives, teachers and anyone looking to start a project. On any given day you might find bolts of fabric, sport trophies, mannequins, school supplies or a box full of Mardi Gras beads. What they're saying: "We're looking to find a place that we can eventually buy so that we can have a forever home… a warm, vibrant and welcoming space for our constituents," said Scrap programs director Danielle Grant. The ideal space would have 10,000 square feet with parking, Grant said. My thought bubble: Scrap is my favorite kind of creative place — full of weird odds and ends and so much inspiration. I picked up some great vintage typography stickers designed to stick up in shop windows. Be prepared — you won't go home empty-handed. The bottom line:"It's a unique shopping experience," Grant said. "If you have something in mind, you might not get it… This is a place where you come to discover things that you didn't think you were going to find." If you go: Open from 10am to 6pm Tuesday through Sunday at 2150 Newcomb Ave.
Powys County Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Powys County Times
Kathy Biggs' third novel published by Harper Collins
A POWYS author, who only turned to writing after being made redundant, has just released her third novel – and her first since signing a book deal with iconic publishing house Harper Collins. Kathy Biggs ' third novel, 'Attention All Shipping', is the first from the Bradford-born writer since she signed with the industry giant – one of the big five global publishing companies. Attention All Shipping was released last Thursday, May 8, with Kathy holding an official local release in Llanwrtyd Wells, where she lives, on Friday evening. 'There were around 90 people there and I sold 80 books,' said Kathy, who has lived in Powys for more than 40 years. 'My editor, who is a co-director at Harper Collins, came up and did the interviewing; she stayed at the Neuadd Arms in town and loved it.' Kathy had a varied career as a nurse, foster carer and homeopath, before turning her hand to writing after being made redundant by Age Concern in 2017. She'd never harboured any desire to write, but after attending a creative writing course in Builth Wells, something clicked. She released ' The Luck ' in 2022, a story about an Irish crop duster who leaves for a new life in America. ' Scrap ', about how a young boy found in the back of a car at a scrapyard changes the lives of the people who find him, followed in 2023. Then, 18 months ago, Kathy got herself an agent, which was when 'everything changed'. 'It's my third novel and I feel like a fully-fledged novelist now,' said Kathy. 'It's strange.' RECOMMENDED READING: The married mother-of-two, who first moved to Powys in the 1980s, originally living in Glascwm, near Builth, published her first two novels through Honno – an Aberystwyth-based company which champions and publishes writing by the women of Wales. 'It was a tricky decision to leave Honno and go to someone with bigger resources, but now I have an agent, Sara O'Keeffe, and she has changed everything,' admitted Kathy. 'I signed a contract with Harper Collins in around March or April 2024 and Sara went for the bigger publishing houses. 'It's not anything that I ever expected to happen, especially after being made redundant and at my age. It feels unbelievable.' Having a totally new career take off, in her 60s, has been a shock – Attention All Shipping has even landed Kathy a contract in Germany, while she had to select actors to read the audiobook version. 'I've also got a contract in Germany, with DTV, so the book roughly translates to 'Ships On Stormy Seas', and it's being translated into German,' she added. 'It's also in audiobook format and I had a say in choosing the actors. I got sent voice samples to choose, which is not something I ever thought I would do.' There is a correlation between the new book and American author E. Annie Proulx's 1993 novel The Shipping News, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. A tender, hopeful novel about losing and finding family, Attention All Shipping is about father and daughter Jack and Grace. Grace lives with her father on their crumbling family farm in Wales. Jack, who has dementia, lost his son Michael in a tragic accident at sea and each night he is soothed by an old recording of the shipping forecast, lulled to sleep by the belief that Michael is safe. While he sleeps, Grace wonders how she ended up back here, caring for her father rather than living her own life. One day, a young woman turns up on their farm, claiming to be Michael's daughter. Kathy's portrayal of dementia is based on her own experience of caring for her father, while 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the first broadcast of the Shipping Forecast.
New Indian Express
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Cinema Without Borders: Looking ahead with hope—Scrap
There is something extremely gratifying about discovering unsung films fortuitously. Scrap has been one such surprise for me—a small, independent American film with a big heart. What's more, it's powered by a woman—Vivian Kerr—who hasn't just written, directed and produced the film, but also stepped in as the lead. Kerr plays a single mom Beth Anderson, who has recently lost two essential securities in life—her job and home. Having left her five-year-old daughter Birdy (Julianna Layne) in the care of her brother Ben (Anthony Rapp), she is living in her car, desperately hunting for a job. The fall semester tuition fee for Birdy hasn't been paid and to make matters worse, her toxic ex and father of Birdy, Joshua (Brad Schmidt) is being manipulative, wanting Beth and Birdy back in his life yet unwilling to make a definite commitment. Despite seeming calm and collected, Ben has his own challenges to deal with. The best-selling author is being paid a handsome advance for three more in the series of books but the work after his own heart—a biography of jazz singer Billie Holiday—has no takers. He and his wife Stacy (Lana Parrilla) are trying hard for her to conceive through IVF. And his relationship with his sibling, who he sacrificed a lot to bring up, is not at its best. While Stacy refers to Beth as a blood-sucking vampire with whom boundaries have to be set, he himself keeps reminding his sister about her responsibility towards her daughter. Life has to be about looking after the child's needs rather than her own whims and fancies. With shots of the iconic elements of the Los Angeles landscape—the palms, Beverly Hills and Hollywood signage, Melrose Avenue and Griffith Observatory—and the ubiquitous phenomenon of homelessness, the film very obviously locates itself in a specific place. However, it's a story that'd be relatable in any corner of the world. Most so for the widespread economic downturn and its impact on individuals and relationships, families and societies at large. In fact, the LA backdrop notwithstanding, most of the film plays out in the interiors—car, homes, offices, bars, restaurants, skating rink, school, bookshop, hotel, mall—and is driven by intimate interactions and life-like conversations between the characters rather than high drama. The narrative is well-anchored in heartfelt, grounded performances. There's something poignant about Beth's pretend life. She doesn't just make those close to her believe in it but appears to accept it herself. It's the comfort derived from a stranger Marcus (Khleo Thomas) that makes her admit to being laid off in the company's downsizing. Despite the difficulties Beth must contend with there are gentle moments of humour that make one smile through her never-ending struggles. She might be dressing up and getting ready in a public washroom but the attire for the interview(s) is perfect, right down to the Calvin Klein shoes—mistaken for Louboutin by a prospective employer. Then there's the online retail therapy that she indulges in with a vengeance, as though to compensate for the many gaping holes in her life. Essentially, it's all about the dynamics of a sibling relationship. There might be a growing misunderstanding between them, they might hurt each other, and in the process themselves, the house they grew up in might be getting razed. But from these seeming ashes, their love and care for each other will rise and grow anew. Ben helps Beth get the vital focus in her career and as a mom, Beth helps Ben realize the pointlessness in trying to bring a baby to this world. It also helps Stacy reconcile with surrogacy or adoption and mend her ties with Beth. There's hope in this bittersweet film. That all won't be lost, that the messed-up relations will resolve, the scraps and squabbles will lead to harmony, and happiness will come to prevail.
