Santa Cruz artists turn trash into art

One man’s junk has become the masterpieces of four artists. The Santa Cruz Recycled Art Program or SCRAP challenged artists to make art out of trash. The results were unveiled Friday at a special reception.

The artists spent four months digging through the recycled trash and creating the work that was finally unveiled.

Material that typically is found at a dump has been used to create the artwork at Radius Gallery on Friday.

SCRAP or Santa Cruz Recycled Art Program, asked for artists to give it a try and they got creative.

“We get a little bit varied we did choose people who wanted to work with wood or metal or installation pieces versus wall pieces,” said SCRAP Curator Tauna Coulson.

Coulson says Santa Cruz was the perfect environment to find artists to take on the challenge.

“It pushed them so far out of their boundaries and had to force them to look at things differently and to create things in a different way,” said Coulson

Of those artists is Lisa Hochstein. She’s created art for more than 30 years and says this experience has been one of her most rewarding.

“It feels like a reset in a way but drawing on everything I’ve done for decades,” Hochstein.

Though the art is exciting to see SCRAP says they also hope to spread a powerful message.

“Make people much more aware of what they’re purchasing and where it goes what we buy, what happens with their garbage,” Coulson said.

SCRAP says they hope to add a similar program for school aged kids in the future.

The exhibit will be up to check out at Radius Gallery for a month.