Atlanta Artists Find the Art in Garbage

Earth Day reminds us to consume less, drive less, buy less.

For a new Atlanta art company, this green philosophy also applies to the creative process. 

"Recycling and being green doesn't have to be such a subtractive hassle," said Keri Cawley. "It can also be an additive thing -- you can create."

Cawley is an artist with Recentered Pieces, which launched in January to fill a niche in the budding market for industrial art fashioned from scrap metal, "reclaimed" wood, recyclables, industry leftovers and discontinued samples.

This Thursday, April 21, Recentered Pieces is building a tree sculpture in the food court atrium of Colony Square with recyclables collected from residents of the Midtown complex. The installation will take all day, and the artists are envisioning it as performance art -- hand them your empty soda bottle after lunch, and they might find a place for it in the sculpture.

They're also installing a pre-built sculpture of a recycling symbol at Midtown Plaza on Thursday. Both sculptures will remain on display for a month.

Lori Sturgess, a longtime entrepreneur and self-starter in interior design, started Recentered Pieces "with little more than a wing and a prayer" after recognizing a need in the corporate world for better, more sustainable decorations. At conferences and in offices, she got sick of seeing "horrible pots of mums" fading and collecting dust. Why not sell businesses table centerpieces that were reusable, creative and reflected the particular industry? Those discontinued Sun Chips bags that made too much noise? Origami!

The centerpieces get people talking, too, said Cawley: "It's a nice ice-breaker."

She and Recentered Pieces' other artists have also branched out beyond centerpieces. They recently designed and built an agility course for dogs at Tyler's Dog Park in Macon and are planning outdoor art installations around Atlanta this summer.

"The more we dive into it, the more you realize how many companies have a department or some head of sustainability," said Kasey Keown, another artist with Recentered Pieces. "They're promoting the green option. That wasn't around five years ago."

Anita Finkelstein, events coordinator at Colony Square, hired Recentered Pieces for the live sculpture-building because she wanted to present visitors and tenants with something interactive and tangible for Earth Day. The tree sculpture will show "how much waste we produce, but that we can turn it into something beautiful," she said.

From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, she's also organized live music, a bazaar and freebies in the food court area in celebration of Earth Day.

"Anybody can stop by," she said.

Sturgess, Cawley and Keown will be going in Thursday morning with a plan and a (recycled) wood frame for the tree sculpture, but beyond that they want to treat the creation like a performance. It'll be like watching someone make a sand castle, Sturgess said.

She's already itching for her next re-creation: a sculpture made from an old piano she salvaged in Inman Park. There's more than a hint of glee in her voice when she exclaims, "I'm about to start taking a piano apart!"

Score one for art, zero for the landfill.