Your Daily Breeze

Project Tandem and SustainabiliTee

Photos by Project Tandem.

Imagine being so passionate about something you go to the extreme of taking an 11,000 mile bike ride? That's what the two brave documentary photographers of Project Tandem are doing, traveling across the country and interviewing people who are helping the environment. Then, all that wonderful information finds its way to their blog and photo gallery. If you're interested about where they are currently, they have a map of their travels!

Morrigan and Alan now have another special addition to their trip, tee shirts! Their lovely design featuring their motto "Conserve. Record. Change." and the utilities that allow them to do the project, a bike, mike, and camera. This earth-friendly tee is printed by SustainabiliTee, and is now available. $7.00 - $17.00 from each tee benefits Project Tandem. Here you can see the first printed tee in their YouTube video!

Shameless...

This weeks "featured artist" is the founder of a small shirt printing boutique, an even smaller animation studio, and the writer of this blog. Although it may seem like a self-promoting piece, it is, but there is also cool tibdits and some good art.

This particular 27 year-old designer, fine artist, and animator does what she can to help the earth, and it seems, that's all she cares about. What a hippie. Emily Dodge, of SustainabiliTee, is currently designing and printing tee shirts to raise funding for a feature length, animated movie she has dreamed of doing ever since she was a wee little one. It's going to be made from trash, beautiful trash...like these sets and puppets shown here.

Until she can devote 24 hours a day to making, dreaming of, and creating her movie, she has sidetracked herself with a tee-shirt printing company, of which she runs a small online boutique at SustainabiliTee.com. The unusual designs originate from her favorite and most admired inspiration: nature (mixed with a little bit of humor, activism, and/or dorkiness).

Emily screen prints her hand-drawn designs on tees that are super-soft, and make you feel good, look compassionate (even if you aren't), and help save the earth all at the same time. Since she is fortunate to live by an oceanic body of water, she dries the tees in ocean breezes, which she hopes transfers to the person opening the envelope.

I know Emily well, and paramount in her life is her desire to help others less fortunate, those without a voice, those without rights. May I suggest supporting Emily and her endeavors by using this blog often, visiting SustainabiliTee, and watching StartMotions animations.

To further support Emily and her recycled animation project, click here! Please put "StartMotions" in the 'Designated Donation' box, and Healing Earth will give Emily your present.

Take a gander at this pleasing and pleasant work created by Rebecca of "Art and Philanthropy", a wonderfully conceptualized endeavor that promotes happiness and peace.

Rebeccas' work is imaginative, her color palate is diverse and powerful. It's strong yet subtle and perfectly administered. Her wide selection of art, will please everyone.

"The goal for my art is to show that you can create beautiful things out of items we throw away everyday." says Rebecca. Even the tote bags and lunch bags are made from organic or recycled cotton and vegetable inks! 

She is currently collaborating (and donating $5.00 of every special piece purchased) with PeaceMexico.org, a non-profit that works with rural Mexican families helping to improve their living conditions and environment.

Her compassion is inspiring. Her work is eye-catching and whimsical, simply pleasant to look at. Please take a look at all her pieces at her Etsy shop and support her wonderful endeavors.

If Only She Could Fly

In the usual quest to find interesting and considerate works of art, YourDailyBreeze came upon this unique piece by Sarah Zamora; aka Original Youth.  "If only She could Fly" is a mixed media featuring scraps of all sorts artistically composed on a wooden-ruler-framed canvas. It was created in March 2008, for exhibit in the Firehouse Art Gallery's 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' art show.

The three dimensionality of the piece works perfectly with the materials Sarah used, and the execution of the puppet-like character and the subtle attachments of the strings are rare additions to the piece's beauty. It's truly a unique piece that incorporates old discarded items into a pleasurable piece of work, giving it a new life.

This one-of-a-kind piece is composed primarily of recycled 'found' objects, including: foreign text pages, magazine images, tulle and lace, paper and fabric scraps, metal bits from the tool box, paint sticks, wooden rulers (framing), measuring tapes, and chipboard.

Sarah says, ""Living green is about more than just recycling once per week; the modern mixed media artist should seek to bring out the natural beauty in items that would otherwise be discarded, giving them a new life beyond their intended original purpose."

Keep an eye out for Sarah Zamora and her beautifully salvaged art. And stay tuned to YourDailyBreeze for more earth-friendly artists, fashion, and tips.

The Art of Recycling

Creating art can involve materials and products which are, shall we say, less than ecologically-correct. At Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, for example, we had to sign a waiver and agreement that what we were using (oil paints, turpentine, etc.) could be considered hazardous to our health. Since then, RISD has gone decidedly green, setting an example for, and protecting the health of, students, artists and alumni.

Many animation studios spend hundreds of dollars and countless toxic materials to make one stop-motion puppet. But, StartMotions has found making the puppets out of trash to be not only nicely inexpensive (some puppets, like the whale above, cost nothing in materials), but can also be good for the earth. No gas masks or ventaliation fans are needed in this studio; just good, unusual trash; which is, like all trash, everywhere, if you choose to look.

This image above was initially created for StopExtinction.org, but the Plovers took center stage for the animated public service announcement. See here (http://startmotions.com/animations_online.html).

Ingredients: Plastic floaty toy (lounge chair), broken car window glass (found on the streets of Providence, RI), organic cotton batting, donated paint, clay, and wire, and natural sunlight.

Artists are, by their very nature, on the vanguard of things. Creativity is paramount in order to be at the vortex of contemporaneity. The earth-conscious ethic is strong within the art community, not only for the choices of materials but also in the innovative use of otherwise cast-off goods. For my senior animation film project, Two by Two, I "invented" the use of broken glass as the ocean. I made the animals (whale shown above) from various recycled goods, including re-used wire (for the armatures) and thrift store fabrics. Others are doing similar work. For this Friday round-up, we're including a brief survey of artists not only inspired by nature but making good use of unusual and interestingly appropriate things. Here goes:

In Utica, NY, Doreen Quinn, Julie Snediker and others are making a difference.

Green Treks Television

San Francisco Recycling's Artist-in-Residence program

Recycled Pine Blossoms

Finland's Tietoa Minuta Favorite Recycling Artists

SimpleShoes

 

What can YOU recycle into art?

 

Introducing Niki Mangino!

Niki set the standard high for SustainAbiliTeeShirts.com's first "featured artist". She found us through an ad and asked (she's so nice) if SustainabiliTee needed her services. Sure! The first design I saw was so endearing, and it only got better from there. She needs to have a whole store devoted to her, but until then, here's her lovely work.

As soon as possible, we're going to hire this girl. Don't get any ideas competitors! Here's a bit more about this fine young artist:

Niki Mangino is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. During her studies, Niki explored a variety of design techniques including screenprinting, fabric dyeing, batik, furniture design and weaving. After receiving her degree in Textile Design/ Fiber Arts, she began to explore other medias including glassblowing and jewelry-making.

Niki has always drawn inspiration from many different sources, but is constantly inspired by nature. Many of her designs are directly inspired by flowers, plant cells and other organic shapes and are often complemented by a bold palette. A lot of her recent work has been described as being "reminiscent of 60's and 70's poster art".

Currently, she is working on a line of screenprinted grocery totes, some of which  are constructed out of recycled fabrics and will be a greener alternative to all those yucky plastic bags.

Check out Niki's shop at:  www.elephantshoo.etsy.com or email her at:  nikimangino@yahoo.com
Some of her other work can be seen at:  www.textileartists.org/elephantshoo