“Trash to Treasure” – Creating at Home

Color Matching

Collect small objects that you already have lying around the house, including those that may have ended up in the trash! Have your kids sort them by like color. Get creative with the sorting containers!

Cardboard Shapes

Cut cardboard into different shapes and punch holes into it. Use extra shoelaces, yarn, or string to weave through the holes, creating fun shapes and patterns. This can also be used as a tool to help learn how to tie your shoes!

Homemade Ring Toss

This homemade ring toss game is great for kids of all ages and it’s fun and safe for both indoor and outdoor play. Form pipe cleaners into rings, and use either an empty paper towel roll, or two toilet paper rolls taped together as the base. Use your imagination to figure out how to stand up your paper towel roll!

March Artist Spotlight: Janis Bergman-Carton

Janis Bergman-Carton

How did you start making art?

In my bedroom on a TV table when I was about 7 years old, messing around with anything I could put my hands on. More than once I clogged the plumbing in our house with plaster of paris. I thought I would be an art major in college but didn’t then have the fortitude to deal with critiques of my work (part of it I now understand was not yet having words for what I experienced as a young woman being told by my all male art professors that my work was “too personal”).  Anyway, after 25 wonderful years teaching art history I now am thrilled to circle back to where I began. 

What is your preferred medium?

It’s always been about texture for me. Clay, mixed media, and mosaics. 

What drives your creative spirit these days?

Everything, but I’m particularly interested in memory and place in art- evoking memories of absent loved ones or the historical and material textures of place. I have an ongoing project now called the Texas Cotton Series.

How does reuse play a part in your art? 

It plays a big part. Because I am interested in expressing connections to people and places over time, what feels like deep history and memory, I’m always searching for things or pieces of things that appear to have been well-used and well-loved in the past.  ACR is a treasure chest.  

What compels you to donate to ACR?

The idea of creatively recycling items more typically thrown away is magical. And the community ACR has created in such a short time of people of all ages and backgrounds is a big draw for me.

Do you have a favorite ACR find? What did you do with it?

An amazing sample board for porcelain colors from the 1960s with 12 tiny cameo heads. The heads show up in memory vessels I make. 

Where can we find out more about your art? 

Website: janisbergmancarton.com

Instagram: @bergmancarton

February Volunteer Spotlight: Eleanor Schorre

Photo Credit: Lisa Hause Photography

What motivates you to volunteer? 

I’ve always enjoyed the community that is built around a volunteer organization. A place created by so much giving – of time, appreciation, care, and of course donations – is rarely a bad place to be. 

Why ACR? 

A thrift-type store for craft supplies?! I was hooked as a shopper immediately. After shopping for a bit, I noticed that there might be some need for organizing help, which is something I love to do! 

How long have you volunteered with ACR? 

I started volunteering in early 2019, so just over a year.

Are you more into the arts aspect of ACR or the conservation aspect and why?

I came in primarily for the arts aspect, though I’ve always enjoyed finding reuse through art and creativity. I grew up surrounded by artists and creatives of all sorts and I’d gotten out of the creative mindset somewhat because life happens. Through ACR I’ve found that spirit again, as well as a newfound appreciation for conservation and reuse beyond the usual recycling programs. 

Where else have/do you volunteer? 

I currently don’t volunteer anywhere else but I spent a lot of time in college volunteering for Autism Speaks. 

What do you enjoy the most out of volunteering at ACR? 

Sorting and organizing mainly – seeing all the donations that come in also exposes me to so many things I’ve never seen before and allows me to learn about new types of craft and new uses for ordinary things.

Do you have any interesting or funny stories about something that happened while you were volunteering at ACR?

I started volunteering shortly after I got engaged. Many things I found at ACR showed up as decorations at our wedding, most importantly the majority of the ribbon for our 5’ by 7’ ceremony backdrop.  A lot of the things we used either have been or will be re-donated, but I’m keeping that backdrop!

Thank you, Eleanor, for all that you do to help Austin Creative Reuse continue to grow!  Interested in joining our volunteer community? Visit the Get Involved section of our website today!

Loose Parts Play

Loose Parts offers children the chance to explore and learn using objects that they would likely come across in their own environments. It is also an easy way to introduce the concept of reuse into your classroom!

February Artist Spotlight: Verónica Vivanco

Verónica Vivanco

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