Exhibit: Glean

"Plesiosaur" by Francesca Berrini.  Made with hardware she flattened on the train tracks behind her studio. 

We went to see "Glean", a group exhibit at Disjecta Gallery in Kenton, and it's groovy!  The exhibition is the 4th annual collaborative effort between crackedpots, a volunteer run organization that encourages and assists artists in making works from discarded materials; Recology, a private employee- owned company that manages garbage collection and processing in the Portland area; and Metro, the cryptic regional government agency.  A jury awarded stipends to 5 local artists and gave them 6 months to find good stuff at the Metro Central Transfer Station in NW Portland with which to make a minimum of 10 pieces each. Its purpose is to make a point about finding treasure amongst the trash; to get us to see the things we discard in a new light.  I thought this sounded like a very kid-friendly show, and I was right. It manages to convey both the urgency of "reduce, recycle, reuse", and the hopeful message that anything can become art.  In Nisus Gallery in an adjoining space is a show by artist Natalie Sept, including portraits of transfer station employees, interesting quotes from her subjects, and images from the apocalyptically huge piles of trash.  "Glean" runs through August 31 so check it out!  

"Use Full Worth Less" by Alyssa Kail.

"A Sort of Resolution" by Sarah Bernstein.

"Industrial Nostalgia" by Francesca Berrini.

"The Patron Saint of Broken Hearts" by Francesca Berrini.  Made with an anatomical model.

"Fountain" by Francesca Berrini.  Made with Vogue Magazine.

A detail from "Fountain" by Francesca Berrini.

"Untitled (railroad tracks)"  by Alyssa Kail.

Francesca Berrini made what at first appeared to be an ordinary map...

...but upon closer inspection, proved to be a fantastical landscape from her imagination.

"How I Remember You Now" by Francesca Berrini.  There were two rocking chairs facing each other and separated by a mirror stand fitted with a lens from a discarded large screen television.  Visitors were happily sitting on the chairs and checking out the view.  The effect was pretty neat.