Upcycled sculpture by Lucinda Linderman

Inspired by the discarded things around me, I transform something thought of as waste into something aesthetic. Constantly frustrated by my over-consumption and production of waste
from packaging of consumer goods, I upcycle my trash to create sculpture. This transformation resembles organs in the body, the digestive system in particular.

"Excess extravagance" image courtesy of LILA PHOTO

The intestines are the life-line of the body. They filter ingested nutrients, helping the body use and store those nutrients. They then excrete excess food and wastes the body cannot use.
This residue, however, can be used as fertilizer, fuel, or nutrients for other organisms in our ecosystem. In this cycle the nutrients are never lost. This is the same approach used in my artwork.
I model my process of working, of creating objects as an opportunity for renewal.

NOTE: halfway of the video will take you to an amazing shoot inside of the artist piece above  “made out of 900 plastic bags”!!!

The sculptural process begins by methodically separating my trash: food and paper go into an earthworm compost bin; bottles, cans and plastic are recycled; and unrecyclable residue is used to
create sculpture.

Material also comes from collecting plastic trash in my neighborhood like left over plastic wrap discarded on the street and in dumpsters. This plastic waste along with my own
trash becomes the raw material for building sculptures. I have developed different methods for using this material including twisting and heat fusing plastic, weaving candy wrappers and plastic
food bags, and printing with worm castings on hand-made paper from my junk mail. The resulting materials usually resemble natural materials such as lambs wool, skin, and fabric.

This work questions our preconceived notion of waste and offers the viewer an alternative to throwing trash into a landfill. My desire is to inspire the viewer to imagine re-using waste as material.
Above all, I regard my method of sculpture as a way to reduce my carbon footprint and to be accountable for my over-consumption.

UPCYCLING VS RECYCLING

WASTE

With all the different kinds of ways to reduce your TRASH, some of the terms can get confusing. I used to wonder what the difference was between “recycling” and “upcycling”: isn’t reusing material all just recycling anyway?
As I found out, that’s not really the case. We’re all familiar with recycling: processing used materials into new materials.

The trash guys come to pick up our glass, cans, and paper to take to the recycling plants to be made
into reusable products. (Or we take it to the recycling plant ourselves!) It’s not a process we can do at home. But what about upcycling?
What’s that all about? Upcycling is, according to Wikipedia, “The process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials
or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.” It’s just basically a fancy way of saying, “Making new stuff out of old stuff,” !

But what about upcycling? The process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.”