Why Did I Start This #100DaysofWastedArt Project?

Have you ever really paid much attention to how much waste you and your family create? If I had to guess, we would probably all be pretty surprised if we really put our minds to the matter.

To gain some insight into how much trash (and recycling and compost) my family and I generate, I’ve been thinking about doing a waste audit (an exercise in which you track everything you throw away for a set period of time) to get an idea of  how much goes to waste in our home. 🗑 Honestly though, that seems like so. much. work, and I know my family would never be on board either. Heck … I’d never be on board.

I’ve also been intrigued by the #the100dayproject for a couple years. This project encourages participates to select a certain type of art and create one piece of art everyday for 100 days in a row. While the idea sounded rather interesting, that also seemed like so. much. work. So nope!
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Then I married the two ideas, and it all got a whole lot more interesting. 🤔 What if I used waste from our daily lives to create a really simple image each day? I didn’t need to audit every single piece of trash, but it certainly would encourage me to pay more attention to our waste. I didn’t need to buy any new supplies or make a grandiose piece of art everyday, but I could create a very simple image that took less than ten or fifteen minutes to make. Combining these ideas seemed very manageable, a great opportunity for reflection on our habits, and also pretty fun.

So I dove in and accepted the #the100dayproject challenge by doing #100DaysofWastedArt.

Update 1: One Week and Having Fun

It’s been about a week since I started, and I’ve paid far more attention (no surprise) to what ends up in our trash, recycling bin, and compost canister. I need to pay attention because I’ve not got all that many materials to work with, in the grand scheme of art supplies.

I ponder my image ideas throughout the day and base it on something relevant to our lives that day. I typically create the day’s image the next day after I’ve collected the waste pieces I need to make it. Generally, the idea precedes the image, though I have had a time or two when the pieces I had drove my image.

I really looking forward to comparing the early images to the final ones. I’m already feeling more comfortable contemplating ideas I can actually execute and turning those ideas into real images.

As for my reflection on waste, I’ve noticed far more how often I open our trash and recycling bin cabinet. I throw a lot of stuff in there?! I haven’t been all that surprised yet about what we are throwing away or recycling.

More Updates Coming Throughout the Project…

  • Day 01 | You Are My Sunshine
  • Day 10 | Float into Earth Day
  • Day 11 | Libraries Slipping Into Obsolescence
  • Day 12 | Dreams of Fruit Trees
  • Day 02 | Trees A Fallin'
  • Day 03 | Podcast Ears
  • Day 04 | Scratched the Mexico Itch
  • Day 05 | Spring is Sprung
  • Day 06 | bloom
  • Day 07 | Lemondrops and Gumdrops
  • Day 08 | Sleepy Face
  • Day 09 | The Hamburglar Dress