Recycle ME (Maine)

Artist:   Isabelle Garbani

Sponsor:   Michelle and Scott Needham

Artist's Design Statement

Winning Bid:  $1,700

I work in mixed media, using feminine crafts such as knitting, crochet and lace with recycled plastic shopping bags. I feel that plastic is the quintessential material of the 21st century and best represents who we are as a culture.

These past ten years, friends, neighbors and family members have regularly collected plastic bags for my artwork. My father-in-law, who lives in Maine, sends me the wrappers from his newspapers on a regular basis. Every few months, I get a shipment of yellow, blue and orange plastic bags. This never fails to delight me because not only the bags are very pretty, but also I feel I have raised awareness about plastic overuse with someone who may not have previously thought about the issue.

My Ox design Recycle ME (Maine) is both a thank you note to my father-in-law for unfailingly supplying me with bags, and an educational opportunity to discuss recycling and our overuse of plastic. The plastic is crocheted with the Queen Anne Lace’s stitch pattern in yellow, blue and orange which is then embedded in clear acrylic medium. Queen Anne Lace, the flower for wild carrots, closely resembles poison hemlock. Thus the pattern echoes the paradox of plastic: it is indispensable and it is completely unnecessary; it is vital to our modern lives and it is harmful to our environment; it is a true technological achievement and a sign of our failure. 

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