Calder Kamin
How did you start doing art and what is your medium?
I have always been an artist and always adored animals. I received a BFA in ceramics and art history from the Kansas City Art Institute.Before I made creatures from garbage, I made them in clay. A few years after undergrad, I started asking serious questions about my practice. My work was about nature, and how animals were impacted by the man-made world. I asked myself " Why am I using clay? I am literally pulling materials out of the Earth and using an abundant amount of energy to turn it into rock. Some materials are toxic, it's heavy and it breaks. What purpose does it serve? How can my materials be part of the message?"
Around the same time, I was gifted two hand-made bird feeders for my birthday. My birthday is in December, so I learned, if you feed the birds in winter they tend to stay. I become enthralled with observing them, identifying the species, calls and behaviors. Come spring, many of the birds in my yard were using rubbish to build their nests. This fascinated me. These animals were reusing the trash in the environment as raw material for their architecture. I wanted to be more like the birds.
My first trash project was called the Synanthrope Station. Synanthropes are animals that thrive in the human world. Synanthrope Stations are ceramic capsules equipped with synthetic nesting supplies for urban dwelling birds. I collected litter from my neighborhood and organized it to be redistributed as building materials for avian architecture. This collaboration between the artist and animal served as a testament to nature’s ability to adapt to human development and a reminder that humans still need to find creative solutions for plastic waste. This lead into a deep dive in material research. I made frogs from birth control packets to discuss the effects of synthetic estrogen on the environment, learned to cut plastic bags into yarn for crocheting from clips of little old ladies on youtube, and then began to strip and twist the plastic bags.
How does reuse play a part in your art?Plastic doesn't biodegrade, it photo-degrades. UV light causes it to break down into smaller and smaller particles that are being ingested by wildlife and humans. The twisted plastic bags created a texture similar fur or grass. I meticulously apply each plastic piece and sculpt it into a trash eating scavenger animals. Raccoons, foxes, rats, opossums, skunks, deer and squirrels are some of the main protagonists in my work. Plastic Planet was born.Trash is culturally considered waste, not a resources as the animals see it. Nature doesn't waste, why do we? Bags were banned in Austin from 2013 until the summer of 2018. I had limited reach to my raw materials when I first began, which was a good thing, but I had to be creative on how I reached my resources. It began with asking friends and family from around the country to mail me bags. Later friends of friends, Instagram followers and fans sent me bags, begging to be a part of my trash transformation. With the help of my extended community, the Plastic Planet series diverted thousands of plastic bags from the environment. To my delight, my work has become a community effort, ACR included.
What compels you to donate to ACR?
After my solo show Plastic Planet at Women & Their Work, I reflected on my own consumption. I started to refuse or reuse all single-use plastic. I bring my lunch, cup and to-go Tupperware. I walk or ride the bus to work and always try to buy second-hand. If we all made simple little changes, it could create a major impact.I am not perfect but on a journey to be better. This makes me a HUGE proponent of the circular economy. What the ACR does is magical. I love digging through Austin's trash and filling up my $5 bucket. I couldn't have made my installation at the San Antonio children's museum without the ACR staff, volunteers and vision for a better Austin.The process for making the plastic bag animals is incredibly taxing on my body. I literally have athlete sprains from the twisting. ACR and the Austin Resource Recovery Center has allowed me to discover new materials and resources. New critters and plants are formed using koozies, Easter egg shells and bottle caps found at the ACR. Also spray paint caps collected from the grounds of the Hope Gallery. I'm not much different from the scavenger animals I sculpt. There is a lot of playing around in my studio and this direction has brought me so much joy and new connections. My work's greater purpose is manifesting hope and possibilities for our plastic problem. I bring a second life to your stuff by turning it into a colorful and smiling creatures. Anyone can do it. It's simple, I have the ACR, my hands, ideas and a hot glue gun.
Where can we find out more about your art?
"Dream Tomorrow Today" through January 6, 2019 or join me for the opening reception of "What a Mess" my solo show at the Central Library Gallery April 19-May 26, 2019. Arts in Context's "Plastic Planet" on KLRU , San Antonio's the DoSeum, @calderful on instagram
Thanks for all you do to help keep the Austin creative!
