Eco-Artists, the Art of Recycling

Turning trash into art has become a trend but it has been around for ages. We used to look down our nose at people who collected trash, now we call them thrifty, green artists. Here is a look at a few artists that create with trash.

Barbara Yates likes to create visually stunning and beautiful statues. Out of dead trees, that is. Barbara is what they call a recycling artist; she breathes new life into dead recycled trees with a chisel and a mallet. Her statues are featured in parks across the globe as far away as Ireland where she was invited to do some carvings in exchange for room and board as their very first wood carver.

Many of her carvings feature animals, people and symbols that are often linked with spirituality, Mother Nature and the goddess. Her work has come to be used in various rituals and ceremonies including one done by full moon on Halloween Eve.

Although by the looks of her gallery much of her work is spiritual it is a pleasant surprise that she branches out into other mainstream avenues. Yates has been hired to carve well loved pets by their owners, small children and even gnomes. All of which display her quirky and whimsical sense of humor. Some of her carvings have even been turned into some very wacky furniture. You can view some of her work on her blog by clicking here.

Danny O'Connor or Danny O as he's come to be known, a native of Massachusetts is a natural recycler. He loves to collect thing and turn them into evocative pieces of art. In 2005 Danny was credited with being the first person to ever create art using scotch tape. I don't mean he taped some stuff together I mean he actually used scotch tape to design elaborate line illustrations.

One of his most memorable projects is his collection of 22,000 lost, thrown away, discarded and used balls that he has turned into a variety of murals. According to Danny, the balls always become the same image of a young boy peering through his hands as if he's looking through binoculars.

The balls themselves when turned into art become a 3D visualization that blows the mind. Each ball no matter how big or small plays an intricate part of the design. See his ball boy here.