To Play at Home or in the Pillow Fort

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RUBBISH ART?

Watch this Binspiration episode of our show, ‘Art Blast’ and see how artists turn everyday rubbish into something extraordinary.

TREASURE HUNT ART PROJECT

Where to play: At home

How to play:

  1. Have the person with the neatest handwriting (usually not the cat) make a list of materials you will use to make artworks. A few suggestions:

  • Something from the recycling (prolly wash it!)

  • Something that should have gone in the bin but hasn't yet (prolly wash it too)

  • Something from outside (prolly wash it)

  • Something from your room (definitely wash it!)

  • Something you got from up high

  • Something you got from down low

  • Something that used to be attached to something else

  • Something natural

  • Something that is not

  • The biggest green thing you can find

2. By yourself or in teams, arrange, glue, sticky tape, staple your trashy objects into a sculpture. It could be a self-portrait (picture of yourself) or an alien space ship or something that doesn’t exist. Whatever you decide it’s going to look like rubbish - cause that’s what it is!

3. Once finished, give your artwork a name.

4. Decide which part of the house/pillow fort/ submarine is going to be the gallery and place the finished works there.

Want to keep going?

GALLERY OPENING

1. Make small labels with the title of the artworks, your artists name and what materials you used in the artwork (post it notes work well for this)

2. Invite the world. Or just your grandparents. You could take it up a notch by asking that everyone dresses up. Have a plate of snacks. Put on some classical music.

3. Walk slowly around the exhibition. Nod thoughtfully at each work. Say things like "fascinating" and “bold!”.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Artists don't just use paint and clay and fancy expensive things from art shops. They also use whatever they can find. If they find something they think is so interesting they think it can be an artwork it is called a found object, if they get a bunch of found things and put them together It is called an assemblage , if the found things are all 2 dimensional (like paper images) it is called collage or sometimes mixed media.

*The funny face trash man in the cover image are provided by Linnaea Mallette, via the public domain.