Hello it’s Kara Salinas, Spare Parts artist/educator highlighting The Circle School’s participation in our #Take5forSA project. This challenge is a Spare Parts month-long online residency, conceived by Executive Director Mary Elizabeth Cantu, that invites the public to reimagine trash by creative reuse.
How it works: five pieces of trash are found and collected daily, and then creatively reimagined into something new in order to encourage trash awareness. The Circle School students cleaned up litter in their neighborhood and Brackenridge Park along with their classmates and teachers. The Circle School students hope to inspire others in San Antonio with their art to curb littering, promote reuse and reduce overall consumption of single-use items. #Take5forSA took place during the month of February 2018, and the following photographs showcase the inspiring creations of the student change makers attending The Circle School. Photos were either taken by me or Circle School staff. I posted daily #Take5forSA a collage of images.
The #Take5forSA challenge consists of daily posts on the Spare Parts Instagram account of five discarded items and creative transformations as reuse art. The Circle School enlisted help from students and family members with a school-wide call for “trash” materials. This supplied #Take5forSA reuse materials, which resulted in the diversion of household trash from the landfill/recycling centers. The Circle School educators are familiar with the concept of reuse, and often lead regular classroom challenges called Beautiful Trash.
From top left photo: The Spike Cannon, The Light Saber, Tar Pit, The Magic Boat, The Fire Bed, The Boat Trying to Get Home, The Life, The Shark of the Dead, and The Slingshot. These pieces are a few examples of creative reuse art made by the star room kindergarten class during February 8th-14th, 2018.
After the month-long #Take5forSA challenge with Spare Parts, the Circle School students incorporated their collected reuse materials into one large installation artwork which opened at Hijole SA, a professional, public gallery at Blue Star Art Complex on Saturday, April 21st. Students wrote meaningful messages and wove them throughout the exhibition. One read, “We did it because the trash hurts the ocean and sea creatures. Now this trash is used for something else and won’t hurt the animals.” The large installation titled, “Undersea” was a school-wide collaboration from Moon, Sun, Star, Sky, Peace and Dream classrooms. The “Undersea” installation consisted of reuse items such as hangers filled with jellyfish litter, eels made from plastic packing materials and a sea horse made from candy wrappers. Students wrote about their art, “We did this piece of art because the fish in the ocean are dying because there is trash in the ocean.”
The Circle School students continue to #startempathy on behalf of the environment by promoting eco-consciousness. These young change makers are motivated to help make a difference in the world.