Keynote: Dump Art - Deborah Munk

Deborah Munk

September 15th at 7pm

Deborah Munk is the Manager of the artist in residence program at the San Fransisco Dump. Yes, the DUMP. Mrs. Munk will cover the 20 year history of the program, and discuss all things sustainable and creative.

via http://www.recologysf.com/AIR/:  

The Recology Artist in Residence Program was established in 1990 at the same time that curbside recycling was being implemented in San Francisco. Conceived by artist and activist Jo Hanson, it was the most innovative component of an outreach plan developed by the City and Recology San Francisco (then known as Sanitary Fill Company) to educate people about recycling.

Now twenty years later, the Artist in Residence Program has grown to include an Environmental Learning Center, an extensive tour program, a three-acre sculpture garden, off-site exhibitions, and has been nationally recognized and awarded as the only program of its kind in the country. Artists are provided with a stipend and a well-equipped studio to make artwork from materials they scavenge from the Public Disposal and Recycling Area ("the dump").

Artists speak to the more than 5,000 students and adults who annually attend the San Francisco garbage and recycling facility tours which focus on the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling. "Throwing things away is an automatic action for many of us and I think art has a remarkable way of showing us the layers of our existence that our repetitive daily lives obscure" says former artist-in-residence David King. Though the artwork is incredibly varied, the connecting thread is that these were all materials that at one time passed through the hands of San Franciscans-things once with meaning or function, determined to no longer be of use. But as the artists demonstrate, much of what we throw away still does have the potential to be used.