gorgeous trash - superb waste - splendid junk - magnificent rubbish

I have no idea what the best translation is, but it more or less covers the - dutch - title of this brandnew book released the day before yesterday.

SCHITTERENDE ROTZOOI       UPCYCLE!
by Jan Van Craesbeeck (grafic designer and passionate recycling artist) and Lil Meert (photographer)

The first time I saw Jan Van Craesbeeck's delightful junk sculptures was quite some years ago during the first Kunstroute-Leuven, a local art tour.  I didn't take pictures back then, my digital camera came much later.
During the opening of the Upcycling Festival at CREAZI (mentionned in previous post) we had the opportunity to see most of the artist's work again.  The conditions to make decent photos were not so good, here's a tiny selection of Jan's exquisite little creatures.

The Upcycling Festival at CREAZI was the perfect moment to launch his book.  It shows, apart from many artworks by the author and artist himself, various other artists from all over the world working with discarded materials.  Encounters with unique personalities, art brut artists in the original sense of the word (by Dubuffet), designers of one of a kind interiors and furniture.  All with one thing in common : the use of waste, junk, trash, rubbish...

To my astonishement I find myself pictured in the book...

There was this photoshoot so many months ago but nothing was heard from it since so I thought the whole thing was blown off or this project didn't fit in the book.  Well there it is, the beautiful Arbus Reïnc, the tree built with reclaimed timber from the roof of our renovated barn. 

The tree that needs to guard our fallen appletree hit by a storm almost two years ago now but still alive.  And although the tree was my idea and concept, built with our material and built in our orchard I never could have built it without the help of Clemens Maassen.  He is the architect of Arbus Reïnc, technique and design are his contributions.

I'm enjoying the sunday afternoon reading inspiring stories about people with a passion: turning unwanted objects into treasures.

SCHITTERENDE ROTZOOI

Jan Van Craesbeeck

Lil Meert

Uitgeverij De Draak

www.vizoog.com

related posts

Jan Van Craesbeeck at Tempus Arti

the building of Arbus Reïnc

Weekend Lubbeekse Kunstenaars

Biennial of local artists in various disciplines

24-25 november 2012   11.00 - 18.00
free entrance

Infrax - grote zaal
Dieststesteenweg 126
3210 Linden, Belgium

setting up a few of my recent chainsaw sculptures in reclaimed wooden beams

Arbus Reïnc - land art in the orchard

result of a storm + fallen apple tree + reclaimed timber from renovated roofs + art event...

start...

... my husband dug a perfect cross on the spot where our old apple tree used to stand upright, he deserves a medal for that tedious job...

... starting to build up the roots and centre of trunk ...

... the part that will turn into the tree trunk...

... first branches are 'growing' and roots are being covered

... at the end of day one we're quite happy with the job so far...

... and the 'gods' approve of what we're doing and send our their blessings...

... on the second day branches grow thicker and taller and provide lodgings for local birds, I even spotted bees around the nests ...

... a chair is added to look over the hedge and over the fields until the next village in the distance or simply enjoy the fact of being 'detached' from the world below ...

... a niche is incorporated into the trunk...

... adding the bark to the trunk...

... getting its shape...

... adding the last bits and pieces...

... meet the (tired) builders and the end of the last building day

Clemens Maassen (design & technique) - hildA de schutter (me) (idea & concept)

... the next days I get up at night to finish other works for the art tour and I get this special bonus : gorgeous sunrises sitting on the chair in Arbus Reïnc...

...

... the first day of the art tour the last detail is added...

... our first extremely enthousiastic visitor climbs into the tree...

... over three days 1500 visitors enjoyed our piece of land art...

... rain or shine, still very popular...

... to sign the guestbook one had to climb into the tree...

... now three weeks later

a sunday during summer... peaceful?  not quite...

not exactly our 'thing' this car race but we must admit that Arbus Reinc gives us a whole different perspective on the subject.

related posts

preparations

Kunst op het Hof

the barn - before and after

Clemens Maassen - art & design

wood - most recent works

hildA de schutter (me) - PAALwoningen (pile-dwellings)

The subject - fragility, urbanisation (hence the importance of the shadow on the wall) - of the art tour Kunst op het Hof inspired me for my most recent works in wood.

my debut with the chainsaw...

Made from reclaimed centuries old timber from the neighbours barn that didn't survive a heavy storm some years ago.  Some of the beams still have the original hand-forged nails.

I quite like the combination with Clemens Maassen's painting

detail of Calvino by Clemens Maassen

and I can't get enough of the new look of our barn... but new plans are budding in my mind...

related posts

Urban Agriculture

barn - before & after

Clemens Maassen open studio

Urban Agriculture

fascinating trend
the amount of food that is transferred into large cities daily is gigantic.  using the free space for growing crops in the city, like on rooftops, cannot solve the problems of transport but every effort counts.

If I would live in the city - I did about 35 years ago where I grew tomatoes on my tiny balcony - I'd love a large rooftop and grow vegetables, keep honey bees and enjoy the scent of honeysuckle in the evening and early morning.

The theme Urbanisation - or the fragile balance between city and rural country - during the art tour Kunst op het Hof - gave me the opportunity to build my version of countrylife in the city.

as usual using reclaimed material...

and next... a fascinating experiment... sewing the 'fields' with different kinds of 'sprouts'. 

never done this before so I'm anxcious to see if everything will grow in time for the art tour...

radishes and rucola are doing nicely... others are still hesitant

hildA de schutter - Urban Agriculture - installation - wood & plants

I didn't have enough time to finish it the way I wanted but one week later I'm quite happy with the effect

at the 'finissage' visitors were allowed to harvest and eat the crop spread over bread and humus

the previous post mentionned that this work would be complimentary to Clemens Maassen's paintings. City versus countryside.

but let's zoom in on that large painting ICI on the wall made by Clemens Maassen especially for the occasion...

detail of ICI - the white arrow glued on the painting mentions : you are here...

and that is exactly where we were standing, in our barn on our property

to be continued...

barn - before and after

Let me show you what we've been doing these lasts months. Part of it, we've been working on many things.

Our barn as it used to be...
the small pigsty a few months ago...

and last week during the art tour Kunst op het Hof...

drawings on the wall by Clemens Maassen

wooden assemblages and found art by hildA de schutter

the large space of the barn in the not so distant past...

and now...

paintings by Clemens Maassen

installations and wooden sculptures by hildA de schutter (link is this blog)

more specifications on artworks in the next posts

We had over 1500 visitors over three days during the art tour Kunst op het Hof, it was worth all the work.

I will be posting regularly again from now on, I first need to sort hundreds of pictures...
I'm glad to be back