Making Connections through Recycling

At the Santa Fe Recycled Festival

The Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival, the country’s largest and oldest recycled art market, is held at the Convention Center every November. It is dedicated to showcasing art created from discarded materials; all the art entered must be made from a minimum of 75% recycled materials. The festival kicks off with a highly popular Trash Fashion and Costume Contest but my favorite part is the artwork and displays contributed by local schools. You see me standing in front of one of these in my photo on this page. I am always amazed by the ingenuity, originality, and effort displayed in these works.

Student Artwork

It is easy to see the connections between art, science, and engineering that are evidenced in these works from both adult and student artists. The school children created their artworks through what can be seen as exemplary Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) lessons. But STEAM is just one approach to making meaningful interdisciplinary connections to different disciplines through art. Arts integration and project-based learning are others you may know of. 

Why is art at the center of all of these? I believe it is because art is engaging and all encompassing, a universal language understood without words, and a reflection of our human commonalities. Art teachers know this more than anyone and are in the best position to teach it.

Student Artwork

 Many thanks for work on this issue of SchoolArts Magazine go to guest co-editor Andrew D. Watson, Fine Arts Instructional Specialist for Alexandria City Public Schools in Alexandria, Virginia, for his articles, The Place of Art is to Connect, and Building STEAMy Stop Motion. His experience and expertise contribute greatly to our content this month.