By Bill Weiser
The newest addition to the exhibit of art made from recycled inkjet materials at The Art Station in Springfield, MO is entitled River of Water of Life. Created by artists Josh Mitchell and Macklin Rice, the 16-ft. piece is made from hundreds of inkjet-printed test strips saved from more than 60 different fine-art photography projects.
The strips were chromatically grouped and hand woven through a wire framework in a way that suggests flowing river currents. To further evoke a sense of motion and nature, the mounted artwork is viewed with a time-lapse video projection of clouds moving across the horizon.
River of Water of Life made its public debut at an event at The Art Station on Friday, Aug. 7. The new piece joins Rhythm & Hues and Hanging Cartridges, which were described in a previous Studio LexJet post: Art Exhibit Uses Recycled Photo Printing Materials. According to Mitchell, the exhibit at The Art Station is being expanded to help encourage the community to “Get away from the throw away!”
He adds that “This manner of creating art is a trend that some photographers and designers are employing to promote the use of low-tech processes that have a minimal impact on the natural environment.” The art reinforces a fundamental principle of recycling: We all must look at all the stuff we might ordinarily discard and figure out new ways to re-use it.
Josh Mitchell was thrilled by the size of the crowd that showed up at the event at which the piece was unveiled. He says he has received several phone calls from other organizations that want to display the “green art.”
Personally, I think Josh’s art is some of the most creative that I have seen. It is not only good to look at, but great for the environment as well. Hopefully, work such as Josh’s will remind us to think more about the future of the environment. His work also makes us realize that “Art is all around us. It is just a matter of piecing it together.”
For the latest information about what LexJet is doing to promote more sustainable solutions, visit The Environment section of our website.