Salon from Refuse

More and more, students from the Lamar Dodd School of Art are leading the way in a variety of areas that include thinking about how our society deals with waste:

Lindsay Pennington, a senior from Albany majoring in sculpture at the UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art, is challenging the way people think about waste. Her senior exit show, "The Salon from Refuse," features sculptures from discarded materials and converts a 40-yard dumpster into a gallery for visual and performance art. The exhibit opens Nov. 15 on America Recycles Day in the school of art with a reception from 7-9 p.m. and will close Nov. 24.

The exhibit is co-sponsored by the UGA Office of Sustainability and Facilities Management Division, both of which are working to change the way the UGA community thinks about—and manages—its waste.

Starting in September, the UGA Facilities Management Division installed 30 solar-powered mixed-recycling and landfill compactor stations at high-traffic locations on the Athens campus. In general, all paper, plastic, metal and glass items go in the recycling bin; food wrappers, food waste and Styrofoam items go in the trash. The project employs renewable solar power and advanced communications technologies to maximize collection efficiency by campus staff.

Because it is so easy to not think about the environment, our water (where it comes from) and our trash (where it goes), it is imperative to find creative ways to make people think about these issues. Kudos to the UGA Office of Sustainability for supporting this effort and leading many others on campus. But an art degree, and specifically one from the Franklin College, is becoming a nexus credential for creative thinking across many fields. If you are an entrepreneur of any sort and don't have a BFA or MFA, chances are that you will be looking for someone who does. More good news for the arts at UGA.

Image: Salon from Refuse exhibition. Thanks to professor Georgia Strange.