25 years of turning garbage into art

Image: Lauren DiCioccio’s embroidered and quilted 2011 work “Thank You Bag.” Photo: Courtesy Of RecologySan Franciso. Photo: Courtesy Of Recology San Franciso — Image: Lauren DiCioccio’s embroidered and quilted 2011 work “Thank You Bag.” Photo: Courtesy Of Recology
San Franciso. Photo: Courtesy Of Recology San Franciso

By Kimberly Chun Updated 3:32 pm, Thursday, August 13, 2015

Long before high-low entered the cultural lexicon, and reclaimed wood and recycled metal became common design features, Recology San Francisco was helping artists salvage society’s rejects from the Dumpster of trash culture.

“Using found materials in an art practice is not unusual,” says Deborah Munk, manager of the artist in residence program at the San Francisco dump. “But our program is unique because we are a recycling, composting and resource recovery company that supports an art program and has done so for 25 years. No other company like ours has ever done that.”

“Make Art, Not Landfill: The 25th Anniversary of the Recology Artist in Residence Program” at the Thoreau Center for Sustainability gathers a selection of works by the more than 150 local artists who have been a part of the program, through Sept. 10.

Among the pieces curator Sharon Spain pulled from Recology’s permanent collection are Lauren DiCioccio’s hand-embroidered “Thank You Bag,” Val Britton’s “Worldscape IV” wallpaper collage, and Stefanie Syjuco’s play on modernist design classics. In line with her work on counterfeits, Syjuco roughs out Charles and Ray Eames’ storage unit and Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair using scrap lumber, packing foam and duct tape to “investigate ideas of consumption, overproduction, reproductions and class,” as Munk puts it.

Looking back over her 15 years with Recology, Munk has few regrets — and more to look forward to, including new artist-in-residence programs to join those in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. The participating artists, she hopes, “will become advocates for change.”

— Kimberly Chun

Make Art, Not Landfill: The 25th Anniversary of the Recology Artist in Residence Program: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Through Sept. 10. Free. Thoreau Center for Sustainability, Presidio Building 1014, Lincoln Boulevard and Torney Avenue, S.F.