What led you to work with recycled materials?

My mother grew up as a Mennonite on a rented farm in Oklahoma, USA during The Great Depression of the 1920’s. Although she ended up moving to Los Angeles, California during the Second World War and eventually carving out a prosperous life for herself, she never forgot her roots. Reusing and saving were a part of her daily life even during more prosperous decades in California. Perhaps by osmosis, I learned that ‘reusing’ was the sensible way to live in the world. 

I don’t remember the notion of conservation or ‘repurposing’ being popular when I was growing up in the 60’s. It was something, however, that I learned by watching mom. Her ‘normal’ was to wash out plastic bags and reuse them. We would only buy what we could afford, enjoying the simplicity of ‘less is more’. I was content and appreciated what we had and didn’t see acquiring material goods as leading to more happiness.

Frequencies 02, Dry cleaning laundry identification tags, encaustic wax, pigment. 40” x 40” x 1.5”

A few decades later, it became popular in the art world to repurpose everyday materials into works of art. Given my mom’s influence, it seemed natural for me to follow this direction. Some of my artistic inspirations in this vein include the beautiful and creative works of El Anatsui and Tara Donovan among others.

 Shaved Bronze Encaustic wax with mica pigment, 14” x 12” x 1.5”

How do you go about collecting and storing your materials?

It is usually easy for me to collect materials for a new series of work. I begin by looking around my urban environment (Los Angeles) to see what is littering our streets or filling our trash bins.

I also work with traditional art materials including encaustic wax and liquid porcelain. I try to marry the unconventional with the traditional. After many successful and unsuccessful experiments over the years, I have begun to get a sense of which materials complement one another.

For the Urban Tapestry series, cigarette butts are collected from receptacles in the smoking section at the college up the street from my studio. I also have generous friends who smoke and save the butts for me. The process is straight forward. They are washed, sprayed with a watered-down bleach solution and put in the sun on screens to dry. The process is repeated over several weeks until the odour has dissipated.

Next, they are individually dipped in street paint then stored in clear bins until they are ready to be sewn onto large heavy canvas hanging from the studio rafters.

Puff, Cigarette butts dipped in liquid porcelain, fired 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. Shell of cigarette butt left

Are the original materials obvious to the viewer after the work is complete?

I would probably say the original materials are not obvious. At least, this is what I hear from viewers who say they are surprised by the underlying materials used. Cigarette butts (disinfected), cash register receipts,

White Waves + (detail) Cash register receipts, encaustic, Titanium white encaustic, custom frame 60” x 60” x 2”

bicycle inner tubes and most recently, garden irrigation hoses are some of the materials I repurpose. People are initially drawn to the textures, colors or the way light might play on the surfaces. Then they might ask what the piece is made from.

Comment on how you integrate your art and ESL teaching, in your words, ‘mini–United Nations.’

I have chosen a dual career path. I am both an artist and a teacher of English to adults who come from all parts of the world. Both careers are equally creative. One has typically been a solo pursuit and the other reciprocal.

I would like to share with you the current highlight of my life. It is the integration of both careers and how it happened quite organically.

My studio work necessitates a lot of sorting, cutting, dipping and other monotonous tasks before a work can be put together into something beautiful. These tasks are meditative, so listening to podcasts, music, or other auditory relief can help move the process along in a pleasant way.

Simultaneously, I was teaching ESL at the community college up the street. I saw a need for students to use language in meaningful ways outside of the traditional classroom environment. In the classroom, small groups helped facilitate natural language and cultural exchange among students from different cultures. In a classroom of over 50 international students, to be most effective I would have needed a native speaker in each group who could offer language correction and explanation. But this wasn’t feasible.

Orange Coral Starburst, Toothpicks, encaustic, custom walnut frame 13.25 x 10.25

The idea occurred to offer an invitation to students who might want to volunteer in my studio. In exchange for helping me with mundane tasks of cutting, dipping, etc, I offered correction, and new vocabulary while we practice English in a natural setting. We explore whatever topic naturally arises and have a lot of fun at the same time. The result is a win-win opportunity for all of us.

An unexpected outcome is that we have become an international family, a living community connected by our shared stories, joys, challenges and obstacles overcome. We also talk about mundane topics such as movies, food, places we’ve visited locally and abroad and so much more. We have become friends over our months together and when one volunteer leaves to go back to her country, or moves on in her career, newcomers feel the love and are instantly welcomed.

Although we keep our hands moving during those 3-hour time blocks and accomplish a lot, it is the conversation, comradery and connection that makes it all worthwhile. Maybe this is what my grandmother on the farm in Oklahoma felt generations ago when she and her friends would work together in quilting circles helping one another prepare for the cold winters ahead.

How do you cope with the need to acquire ‘many’ for example bicycle inner tubes?  Finding one inner tube, but multiples!

Finding hundreds, or in some cases, thousands of a particular cast-off man-made object is part of the challenge and appeal that keeps me moving forward.

Tropical Blue Bicycle 02 Bicycle inner tubes, encaustic wax, pigment, 13.25” x 10.25” x 1.5”

Bicycle inner tubes were relatively easy to find. My neighbor used to work on Venice Beach in Southern California. He repaired bikes and replaced popped inner tubes for the thousands of weekly bicyclists riding along the 9 miles of our bike path fronting the coast.

When I explained the project to him, he gladly saved the damaged tubes. I would come home to piles of them on my front porch several time a week and it always felt like Christmas. Now that he has changed jobs, local bike repair shops are my next target.

Colour is very important in your work, discuss? 

In the beginning, I was interested in making textural work that did not involve color. Maybe because my first love was black and white photography in which the absence of color directed one’s attention to the play of light and shadow and the presence of form.

Pool Party, Bicycle inner tubes, encaustic wax, pigment, custom ash frame.14”x12x1.5”

Making work with a concentration on texture and form through repetition without color, continued for over a decade. After a while, I longed for color and realized it was also fear and lack of knowing how to work with it that held me back.

Now, I am embracing the joy of incorporating color and see how it adds a whole different dimension. I am excited as I play with this endless new source of inspiration!

What are you currently collecting?  Are you very specific?

Currently, I am working on developing two different series. One made entirely of toothpicks, and another made from irrigation tubing.

Green Tubular Coral, Irrigation hose, encaustic, custom polished aluminum frame 13.25 x 10.25

I admit that both projects involve ‘buying’ the materials instead of finding ones that are used or thrown away. Primarily, because it would be nearly impossible to find hundreds of thousands of used toothpicks, and then there would be the daunting task of sanitizing them.

Irrigation tubing poses a different challenge. People tend to use it for a very long time and locating used tubing in large quantities has proven futile. Initially, I tried contacting the manufacturer for defective tubing that may be thrown away. The U.S. distributor said it is made from recycled tires in China, and he was not able to provide the source.

Do you think your own environment has a large impact on your art in the pursuit of containing man-made base material?

Absolutely. Living in one of the largest urban centers, Los Angeles, with tons of waste all around provides me with endless materials to ponder and experiment with. Walking down a city street with eyes wide open, it is easy to find objects that provides artistic food for thought!

Some years ago, I would walk along the coast with my dog at a time when smoking was allowed on the beach. As a non-smoker, I was surprised by how many cigarette butts littered the shore. Looking closely, I noticed how each had a unique shape, depending how the smoker would push and twist when extinguishing it. In essence, they were little sculptures if seen with the right frame of mind.

Double Urban Tapestry Cigarette butts disinfected, dipped in street striping paint, canvas. Wall mount custom maple cleat 130” x 60

I’ve often been drawn to the durable, viscous paint used to stripe the white line down the middle of city streets. The thought occurred, “What would happen if I dipped objects in this paint?” So began the hunt for a distributor of the paint. After a lot of experimentation, the Urban Tapestry Project with hundreds of thousands of cigarette butts dipped in street stripping paint was eventually developed.

Discuss, the sizes of your art.

Sometimes a specific material and how it is used in repetition calls out to be made a particular size. It usually does not have the same voice or presence presented in a different dimension. That is to say, the material and ultimate dimension of the finished art work in tandem.

Does the finished weight have to be considered, when sizing your work?

Initially, I reflected on the size a piece needs to be in order to be successful. I tend not to give much consideration to the weight of a finished piece before jumping in. I generally have a sense of what size a work needs to be for the materials to do their magic. Some materials beg to be seen in a large format. Such was the case with Urban Tapestry (cigarette butt piece).

Double Urban Tapestry Cigarette butts disinfected, dipped in street striping paint, canvas. Wall mount custom maple cleat 130” x 60”

I did not consider the weight when starting that project. However, as it was hanging from my rafters in the studio during the making, I realized it was becoming quite heavy, so I consulted with an architect/engineer to make sure the rafters could support the weight. In moving the finished piece to the art gallery, and eventually to the collector’s home, several people were needed to transport it and a special cleating system was rigged in the art handler’s van.

In the end, size and weight are questions which I consider, but try not to be constricted by. Do sculptors who work in bronze or marble limit themselves due to weight?

Your piece, ‘Coffee Break’

Is this in two pieces comment on why you felt the need to show it in multiples?

Discuss both light and shadow in this piece and others.

Coffee Break, Patterned after McDonalds coffee cup protectors turned inside out.  Laser cut aluminum powder coated white, custom frame 26” x 26” x 5” each.

I initially made Coffee Break as a single piece, and it was good. However, as a diptych it was even better. The light and shadows play off the forms and onto the wall as the sun moves through the room at different times of the day. The diptych, with a simple break between the two pieces, has more surface to play off.  It seems to act as a sundial without the ability to tell time.

What obstacles do you have to get past when explaining that your work is using recycled materials to produce art?

To live in Los Angeles is to live in an urban experiment, culturally, politically, gastronomically, and in most every way. Everything is possible here, and many people choose Los Angeles for the opportunity to ‘be’ whoever they want to be and to ‘discover’ something out of the ordinary.

Given the culture that surrounds me, I see my use of recycled materials to produce art as an asset, rather than something I must get past when explaining the work. It often adds to a person’s fascination with a body of work knowing it is made from something familiar.

Comment on your work where you have used bullet casings

We were on a bike ride in the hills and stopped on a higher knoll where my partner could get reception on his cellular. I sat on the dirt and starting fishing around at something brass-like that was poking out of the ground. It was a spent bullet casing. I had never seen a bullet before and was drawn to its color and form.

Digging further, I found a few more and pocketed them.

They stayed in my studio for quite some time until an idea gelled. I wanted hundreds of them and found a recycling company that had huge dumpsters full of spent bullets. With their permission, I climbed into these bins and picked out the casings that fit a specified diameter.

Braille Bullets SOS /WAR (detail) Bullet Casings Dimensions 12” x 12” x 2.5”

Empty holes spell out in (reverse) braille SOS/WAR/SOS

They needed to fit into a metal panel with holes. As you see, some of the holes were intentionally left empty, as they spell out (in reverse braille) SOS WAR SOS.

Contact:

Julie Easton

Jeaston1a@gmail.com 

Deborah Blakeley, Melbourne, Australia

Interview by Deborah Blakeley, July 2024

Images on these pages are all rights reserved by Julie Easton