Earth Day
It’s earth day, it’s an April Sunday. The sun has finally grown close once again, warming the air just a little bit.
This spring semester is finally feeling like spring, though there’s only a week left. But, I’m glad some warmth is here because I used the snow-free ground to capture my favorite art project of the semester.
My sculpture professor assigned the class to create a wearable piece. And I had a small lightbulb moment.
Meet my trash shoes, the lovely, somewhat wearable, pieces of art that go on my feet in an attempt to draw attention to the fact that we humans walk all over this earth. Sometimes in a lovely way with the footprints of our hiking boots, but many times in abuse, with the constant evidence of our paper and plastic.
What if all the litter we see ended up sticking to our feet? Why is 75% of our waste recyclable and only 30% of it acctually recycled? Why are we not being more creative with our waste?
My goal in this assignment was to make a statement with these shoes.
A statement of the big and bold ways we need to keep caring for this earth.
A statement of color and fashion to attract skeptical eyes.
A statement of “I’m a bit mad at how much trash I see, making homes out of nature, but come pick up some garbage with me, instead of mindlessly letting our feet walk over it.”
Earth day is today, and Earth day is everyday. I hope you had a happy day of grass, of flowers, air, and dust. A happy day of creatures, of the water, ground, and sky. A happy day of seeds, as branches they become. A happy day of earth, as dust to dust we go.
Also, if you want me to make you a pair of trash shoes of any kind, let me know because I had the time of my life hot gluing trash together to form a thing and I will gladly do it again.~kj