A worse-for-the-wear camper seat cushion. An empty aquarium tank. A motherlode of plastic containers, chip bags and cigarette butts.
These are among the tossed-off contents being transformed for One Creek’s Trash, a three-day exhibition starting Aug. 28 of dozens of artists at Silver Hill Studio in Park Circle. They’re ready to change the world, one piece of litter at a time.
Sprung from a heap of local refuse, each work reimagines what could exist on the stretch of Lowcountry as opposed to what is currently being proposed — a mega gas plant and pipeline in Canadys by Dominion Energy.
“It’s a great way to try to not only beautify the area but to get the community involved and make something beautiful out of it,” said Brighid Welchans, co-founder of artist cooperative Microdose, which launched the event.
The weekend-long event highlights works of around 50 S.C.-based artists, all of whom are part of a collective effort of local arts and advocacy groups to make a powerful statement about how art and activism can uplift a community.
A soft opening at 5 p.m. Aug. 28 launches a community art build. The next day, the gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Aug. 30 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., there’s a Sunday closing bash featuring Big Tent Pizza, interactive art activities and surprises, as well as advocacy actions.
Grassroots effort
One Creek’s Trash brings together grassroots Charleston organizations.
Microdose has partnered with Charleston Climate Coalition, a nonprofit grassroots group of Lowcountry citizens working to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and the M.A.R.S.H. Project, which advocates for the marsh and for reclaiming Charleston’s natural heritage through volunteering. The event sponsor, Cultivate Science + Art, provides social opportunities to explore artistic talents while learning how science sheds light on the world.
It expands upon their collaborative arts-fueled initiative, Songs to Save the Edisto, for which local bands raise awareness for the 2000-megawatt methane gas plant that Dominion Energy has proposed to expand fossil fuel usage in Colleton County. If built on a site adjacent to the Edisto River, it will be one of the largest in the country.
Talking trash
Now, the activists and artists are talking trash.
It is a topic that has long been on the mind of Welchans, co-founder with Dexter Mitchell of Microdose and an artist who has a background in biology and ecology.
“One of my very first ideas was that I wanted to make art out of trash,” said Welchans. “The environment is what I’m most passionate about.”
In June, organizers and volunteers gathered at Noisette Creek near Silver Hill Studio in North Charleston. They collected litter to sort, save and distribute to artists, then asking them to envision what could be built instead of an Edisto River gas plant and pipeline. The haul, which packed an 8′ x 10′ shed, was the yield of that cleanup initiated by Charleston Climate Coalition, as well as another on Edisto Island.
At the event, attendees will also have a chance to make their own art from trash that’s on hand. Taking the format of a mixed media gallery where artists were encouraged to use whatever they wanted, the only stipulation was that each work had to include one piece of trash that either the organization or the artist picked up from the area.
“I’ve been blown away,” said Anna Long, organizing director at the Charleston Climate Coalition. They have been on the receiving end of recent progress photos sent by artists, who range from 6 to well into their 60s, which include a mix of professional artists and newcomers to the art world.
“We’ve got people making everything from paintings to paper mache, and 3D hanging sculptures to one artist who cut and hand-dyed the plastic from plastic containers to create a roseate spoonbill, which is incredible,” they said.
The artists are donating their time and pieces. All proceeds of sold works will go back to the campaign to stop the gas plant and pipeline.
A key to community
Incidentally, the response to the call for artists was equally outsized, with everyone from professional practitioners to aspiring youths eager to get their hands on the tossoffs and transform them into art.
For Long, who spends their days bringing people together to unify around a common goal, art and community organizing are in perfect lockstep.
“It often requires a lot of imagination because our minds are so captured by the realities of the world that we live in that it can be really hard to imagine something different, especially if that is something that has not been thought up yet,” they said.
IF YOU WANT TO GO: The three-day exhibition (hours above) is at Silver Hill Studio, 4268 Spruill Ave. More: charlestonclimatecoalition.org
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