The Art of Reuse
By Joanne Wang
My creative reuse journey started my freshman year at UC Santa Cruz. Double majoring in Art and Biology, I begrudgingly signed up for an Intro to Sculpture class, upset that there wasn’t room in the oil painting or printmaking courses. One of our first assignments was creating a piece using found objects. I learned that sculpture could be so varied and working in this new medium cracked my brain wide open.
At the same time, my love for thrift store shopping and clothing upcycling was blossoming. I loved the Goodwill Bins in Santa Cruz—a warehouse where Goodwill “rejects” were dumped into massive bins, and sold by the pound. A colleague told me to bring heavy duty contractor bags, gloves, and a mask if I ever wanted to shop there. Digging through piles of clothes, I found some amazing pieces to mend or upcycle and resell on the internet. This turned into a fun side hustle for a creative college kid.
After I received the found object sculpture assignment, I found a massive pile of Levis at “The Bins,” in various washes, cuts, and sizes. The colors of the denim looked beautiful layered together in the pile, almost like oceanic ripples. I took home about 40 pounds of denim that day and got to work. Upon cutting and ripping the jeans, I started noticing the beautiful frayed texture and white threads against the blue. Organizing the washes into different piles, I noticed the creased fabric creating waves and ripples throughout the piles.
Creating my first of many soft sculptures with these denim shreds, I used fishing line and baling wire to suspend a skeleton of a boat’s anchor from the ceiling of the sculpture studio. Draping the shredded denim pieces around the wire skeleton and stitching them together, I created a gradient of light wash fading to dark towards the bottom. The visual illusion made the piece look dripping wet, as if the denim anchor was just pulled out of the ocean.
My current work is more abstract, but also makes these same connections between the fashion industry, textile waste and environmental pollution. Utilizing discarded textiles or fiber to create biomorphic forms and compositions that are reminiscent of the natural world, I juxtapose “waste” with our beautiful planet Earth as well as our own human bodies, investigating why we surround ourselves with so much stuff and our identities as mindless consumers.
Outside of my art practice, I am dedicated to educating communities about reuse and repair. Helping Reuse Alliance host Repair Fairs, I see what can be accomplished with enthusiastic helping hands. At SCRAP, I teach sustainable fashion design to elementary school students. Many of the projects I introduce to my students involve the same approach that I took when starting that denim sculpture fifteen years ago. I hope these students continue to be inspired, resourceful, and move through the world with the same creative reuse lens that I obtained in that first sculpture class.
Joanne Wang is an artist and the Outreach Manager of Reuse Alliance. See her work at joannewang.studio
Upcoming Events
June 28 : Fairfax Repair Fair
We will be back in Fairfax at the Fairfax Library for another Repair Fair at the end of June. If you have an item in need of repair you can register it at the link below so we can be as prepared as possible. As always we need general volunteers in addition to Repair Coaches! If you’d like to get involved email volunteer@reusealliance.org or sign up here !
July 12 : Napa Repair Fair
We will be hosting our first Repair Fair in Napa at the Main Napa County Library on July 12th. Find more details and register your item for repair at the link below. This will be our first time in Napa thanks to the Napa RCD so if you have friends in Napa please let them know! You can spend the morning wine tasting and then come volunteer for the Repair Fair! General volunteers and Repair Coaches can sign up here.
July 27 : Point Reyes Repair Fair + Clothing Swap
We will be hosting a Repair Fair and Clothing Swap at the West Marin School on July 27th. Find more details and register your item for repair at the link below. And as always we need general volunteers and volunteers for the clothing swap in addition to Repair Coaches! If you’d like to get involved email volunteer@reusealliance.org or sign up here !
Opportunities
Jul 7 : Deadline to apply to be a speaker at Reuse25 (Oct 22-23, 2025).
Jul 15 : Applications are due for the Walmart Foundation’s Spark Good program
Jul 17 10am - 3pm : CalRecycle Textile Stewardship Informational Workshop
Did you miss How to Start a Creative Reuse Center? You can catch the video here.
Reuse in the News
Creative Reuse Centers are definitely a reason to be cheerful.
As is the new bipartisan R.E.U.S.E. Act (Research for Environmental Uses and Sustainable Economies).
In the UK, 1.5 million pounds of National Lottery funding has been allocated to create reuse hubs in English libraries. Stay tuned for next month’s exciting news about our own Reuse Hub.
Reuse to Amuse
Driving around the neighborhood seeing what people are throwing away. #therichgoodwill
Did you know you can donate old towels to wildlife rehabilitation and pet shelters. The result? https://owlsintowels.org/
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