Featuring the works of Elias Medici

Available to view now, we present the works of local artist Elias Medici. All items were built from reusable or abandoned products. Whether it was paint tubes left outside the YMCA in the inner Richmond, or a Craigslist post about canvas being dumped. Elias focuses on large scale abstract paintings that “will cover your boring, white walls.” He is always looking to reinvent items left on the street, as done with his “Shinder’s block’ cinder block candles. Please find @eliasmediciart on Instagram to connect or see more artwork and upcoming displays. A casual “meet the artist” event will be held on Saturday, June 3rd from 2-4pm, please join us!

Recent Artifacts is an exhibition of art made by Shelley Gardner,  Dan Lythcott-Haims, Stan Chan, Art Jackson and Brad Williams. Each artist works extensively with reclaimed materials, finding ways to create new treasures from broken glass, used blue jeans, rusted metal, discarded bits and pieces, and electrified wood. The show begins with its opening reception Friday, November 15th from 5-7pm and runs through January 3rd, 2020.

Cinch, by Shelley Gardner (2019)

Shelley Gardner

I first became enamored with denim jeans after attending an exhibit about the life and work of Levis Strauss at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Previously I hadn’t given much thought to the ubiquitous jeans that I had been wearing all my life. Denim jeans as we know them today were created in 1873 with the introduction of the copper rivet to reinforce the pockets and seams on canvas work pants. California gold miners were in need of durable, long lasting pants and the Levis Strauss Company produced them from a strong sail cloth originally from Nimes, France. The name “denim” is derived from “Nimes”. What I love about the fabric is how each garment takes on the individual shape of the wearer. Much like an old pair of boots or gloves that crease and fold over time, denim jeans start to resemble the bodies that inhabit them. The fabric is so unique, I try to explore the property it possesses . I start by disassembling garments into all the individual parts: waistbands, inseams, and pockets; then put them back together again in a new form. Each pair of pants holds a personal story of the wearer which gets incorporated into my artwork along the way.

Ankh, by Dan Lythcott-Haims

Dan Lythcott-Haims

Art invites the viewer into the head and heart of the artist. It its a challenge to see differently. Photography and found object sculpture play unique roles within the arts due to their ability to show what IS at the same time as they manipulate the point of view to manifest the vision of the artist.

I have spent my life noticing things about the built world. I notice patterns both designed and emergent; I notice the color, form and scale. Each of my series works to elevate bits of the human-made world that go unseen, ignored, or discarded by capturing a particular element of my noticing: decay, pattern, or color.

I compose my photographs within the camera, moving my body ever closer until the contents of the location, environment, and even subject are lost, and I’ve whittled the thing to its unique core. In my sculpture, I take familiar human-made objects and assemble them into unexpected presentations – by combining multiples together or by cherishing a particular piece within its own frame. In both mediums I strive to recreate the quality that caught my interest – that thing that other people don’t see.

Bread Clips, by Stan Chan

Stan Chan

My immigrant parents were able to buy a Victorian house in East Oakland in the 1950’s. My mother lived there for almost 70 years where stuffs have accumulated in the nooks and cranny of the house. When I was a kid, I would bury my treasures in the holes in the wall. I’ve been making shallow wooden boxes and filled small objects in them. The idea was that the boxes represented wall sections of my mother’s house where artifacts got stuck in the crevices. I nailed a clear piece of plexiglass on top of each box and drew forgettable family stories on it. Originally it was texture to obscure the objects in the box.

Another Planet, by Art Jackson

Art Jackson

“I really enjoy the process, exploring all its variations. I like the infinite possibilities I can see in one simple process. I pick an odd material and start working with it, and wait for a feeling that says I like something. I did that with tumbled glass, dry lake bed dust, sand, and a few painting techniques, and reclaiming family photo frames turning them into little framed canvas. I would make art all day if I could. I have 5 – 6 great process directions I can work with until I can work no more.”

Static, by Brad Williams

Brad Williams

“I have always been humbled by the absolute unstoppable power that mother nature produces in all the various ways she unleashes her wrath. I have had some very powerful and awe inspiring moments with our dear mother nature. I had seen a program on the fact that mankind had found a way to stimulate and produce weather. Since I often work with electricity and from one of my near death experiences had understood the amount of respect I had for it. I decided to find a way that I could, for lack of a better word, control it. From that respect and desire to control it, came this form of directing it back into a small piece of nature, and that is wood. I hope anyone who views these pieces finds a bit of joy and beauty themselves.”

This show will be on display through January 3rd of 2020. Please join us for its Opening Reception Friday, November 15th from 5 – 7pm. We will provide refreshments and possibly live music as well.

Nothing to Lose, by Dianne Hoffman

FULL CIRCLE, a duo exhibition by Dianne Hoffman & Su Evers May 7th – July 5th, 2019, opening reception to be held Saturday, May 11th from 5 – 7pm. Artist Talk and ArtSpan Mixer: Thursday, May 30th 6-8pm.

San Francisco artists Dianne Hoffman and Su Evers explore through mixed media the ebbs and flows of an evolving relationship. Using found objects, reclaimed wood and manipulated photography, they collectively take the viewer on a symbolic, personal journey from admiration to crush, passion to collaboration, trials to resolution, heartbreak to healing and then back around to an unwavering alliance of friendship.

Chemistry, by Dianne Hoffman

Dianne Hoffman creates dimensional vignettes of allegories by linking organic objects with industrial and figurative remnants and combines complementary muted color schemes to harmonize dissimilar media. She was born and raised in the suburbs of Southern California and moved north to become a resident of San Francisco in 1988. The City by the Bay, with its loving embrace of everything extraordinary and endless resource of possibilities, came to cultivate and nurture her creative impulses. She has been a full time assemblage artist of salvaged and repurposed components since 2010 with work found in collections worldwide.

Kind Woman, by Su Evers

Su Evers is drawn to the worn and deteriorating  elements of weathered wood, rusty nails, found objects and trampled on paper discovered on the streets of San Francisco. For this series she has assembled photographic digital frescos and printed photographs combined with found elements to capture a poetic depth of nostalgic fluidity. Su has lived and worked in San Francisco for the past thirty years and is currently creating art in a barn in Woodside.

FULL CIRCLE will open with its reception Saturday May 11th , complete with light refreshments. The event is free, please join us for this great show! Once open, the gallery is open for viewing and purchase everyday, from 9am -4:30pm. There will also be an artist talk and ArtSpan Mixer on Thursday, May 30th from 6-8pm.

DisposABILITIES is a group show with Denise Laws, Heather Law, Marianne Mitten, Mariana Nelson, and Kevin Tuszynski, all using repurposed materials destined to be disposed. They are all inspired to rescue and manipulate materials that are predestined for landfill. They seek and acquire these materials and are driven by their limitless possibilities.

Denise uses single use foil lined packaging like tetra-Pak and food/beverage packaging. Kevin and Marianne work with paper scraps. Mariana works with plastic bags of all sorts. Heather works with Press Mold and Slip-cast trash.

This show begins on March 7th with its opening reception from 5 – 7 pm and runs through May 3rd, 2019.

Maze, by Denise Laws

Denise Laws

Through various arrangements and repetitions, the organic forms, shapes, and patterns of “Mylar Reveries” reveal the hidden elegance of reclaimed debris used as a medium, in large as a much-needed reminder of environmental awareness. The ultimate goal of this on-going body of work is to divert the refuse, such as single-use foil lined packagings from landfill and recast into graceful topographies that echo and reflect nature, landscapes, and horizons.

unnamed, by Heather Law

Heather Law

Heather Law’s artwork is a dramatic depiction of American material consumerism and the resulting waste it creates. The repurposing of personal detritus makes an ethical claim on the viewer, an invitation to reflect upon one’s own daily interactions with these common objects. The transformation of trash into slip-cast ceramic sculpture emphasizes the permanency of our growing landfills in an ever-increasing disposable nation.

Polyglot, by Marianne Mitten

Marianne Mitten

After working on computers and websites as a graphic designer for years, Marianne really missed working with her hands. Creating art with recycled paper strips became a natural transition. There is a lot of waste when it comes to printing: make ready sheets, trimmings, folding, gluing, etc. so instead of buying paper, why not create art with this instead. Marianne never has a preconceived idea when it comes to making pieces. She allows the medium to drive the piece.

Fungus, by Mariana Nelson

Mariana Nelson

Mariana’s work captures material like spools of thread, plastic biohazard bags and thousands of coffee cup lids, and turns them into meaningful, thought-provoking art. First is the degree of transformation: processing and inducing techniques – turning “garbage” into art. Mariana has an even greater purpose for these objects once they are transformed. Warped plastic lids are altered to the point that, together, their petal-like forms read like beautiful, vibrant fungus, perched on trees.

Tranquil Whirl, by Kevin Tuszynski

Kevin Tuszynski

“Chaos/Crisis” are works made during a dark period in Kevin’s life. However, the works are not dark at all. The use of clashing  colors and mixed patterns are used to portray the disruption of his life at that time. “Road Trip” series was inspired by finding a box of road maps in a neighbor’s recycling bin. The soft greens and blues in the maps play with the bolder colors he already works with. Kevin also works with other scavenged paper, print trimmings and fabrics.

One imagines “traveling at the speed of light”…the other travels slowly, monitoring each breath. Marilynn Pardee works with industrial materials, Marlene Aron builds from the natural world. What holds the work of these two artists together is their love for detail, exploration, discovery, and construction of their seemingly disparate works. Marilynn works with iron, auto parts, tire prints. While Marlene uses flowers, leaves, soil, wood ash, paint and glacial rocks, layered onto canvas and wood. Theirs is a world of contrasts, and yet they sit beautifully together.

Diana, by Marilynn Pardee

Marilynn Pardee creates lamps, furniture, screens and clothing, often painted and printed with tire tracks from cars, trucks and bicycles. “Motion is the essential element of my work. The series is titled ‘Light in Translation’. I imagine traveling at the speed of light, leaving random colorful tracks. Each piece is created with scavenged and recycled materials, assembled and welded with my trusted assistant Miguel Ayala. Anchoring the show will be five beacons varying 6 to 8 feet tall, entitled Hope, Joy, Inspiration, Peace and Mirth.” Marilynn Pardee’s reflections are inspired from her early work, “reimagined and illuminated”.

Breathing Mound: Rite of Passage, by Marlene Aron

Marlene Aron’s work – her installations, as well as her mounted wall pieces – is a meticulous layering of memory and time. A reflection from her childhood, observing the colors of earth beneath her feet, the glistening light between branches, the sounds of water in brooks and streams. Marlene layers soil, mulch, cocoa bean hulls, crushed oak galls, wood ash, melted beeswax, oil, alkyd and acrylic paint onto canvas and wood. Her environmental sculpture installations consist of glacial, garden and lava rocks, soil, oak galls, pit-fired shards of pottery, and leaves. “I move with my body and hands that which means the most to me. I move the earth combined with water, light and air. With breath, twigs, stones, broken shards of pottery, to find myself again. My work is about the building up of layers and stripping away of surface; it is about reaching for the center.”

Art on the card:

Marilynn Pardee: The lamp on the card is titled “Hermes,” the Greek messenger of the gods.

Marlene Aron: detail, “Searching for Meaning in the Forest of Plenty”. Mixed media, natural material and paint on canvas.

This exhibition begins Friday, September 21st with an Opening Reception featuring live music from Wishing & Bone. It will be on view through November 16th 2018.

Aiko Cuneo with a cut up milk carton

re – imagine is the combined works of Aiko Cuneo, Kathryn Hyde and Monica Lee. Known for their involvement with SCRAP here in San Francisco, these three artists invite you to re – imagine common everyday items in a new light, and with an artistic purpose in mind. Some of these items used in the show include: discarded books, paint chips, milk cartons, junk mail, coffee sleeves and postage stamps. This exhibition opens Friday, July 20th with a public reception from 5-7pm and can be viewed through September 15th 2018.

Waking Up Happy, by Aiko Cuneo

From A family of makers, Aiko Cuneo worked with teachers, students and families as a teaching artist in San Francisco schools. She combines a variety of materials to make two and three-dimensional constructions. SCRAP, the Scrounger’s Center for Reusable Art Parts, has been an ongoing source of materials that inspire Cuneo’s work. Her work for this show is made with paper, security envelopes, bar codes, buttons, sewing notions, milk cartons, 45 rpm records and paint swatches. “The art of making something from someone else’s discards is food for my soul as it brings joy and satisfaction from the challenges of transformation.”

Remains, by Kathryn Hyde

Kathryn Hyde‘s artistic endeavors include sculpture, printmaking, collage and photography. Hyde’s investigation of architecture and design is found in the elemental details in her sculpture, etchings, and photography. Her creative spirit was influenced by her mother’s interest in architecture and ceramics.

Most recently, she is constructing sculpture incorporating reclaimed cardboard and decaying materials. The sequence is created from common, everyday materials including withered wood, discarded cardboard and rusted metal work. Hyde scavenges from city streets, generous building contractors and reuse yards. She carefully pieces the object together, rather like completing a puzzle.

Hyde’s work is based on her concern for the natural environment and losses from natural disasters, especially the recent fires in California. These sculptures depict her affinity for the land, and her desire to preserve earth’s precious materials and natural resources. Her hope for the future is sustained by the dedicated individuals and organizations working creatively to protect the air, water and soil.

Hyde’s work is exhibited in San Francisco at the Thoreau Center for Sustainability and the SF Department for the Environment.

Untitled, by Monica Lee

After 30 years as a freelance film photographer in San Francisco, Monica Lee has returned to her first love of making things out of reclaimed and found materials sometimes using discarded books, inner tubes, bottle caps, postage stamps, found paper and fabric in her artwork. Her childhood was spent watching her dad making and building things large as the family home to small pieces of folk art using primarily reclaimed materials. At a young age she wanted to build and make things just like her dad and they collaborated on many projects from childhood to adulthood! Her dad Philip was her biggest supporter and inspiration in her artwork until his passing at age 97. Monica dedicates her artwork for this show to her beloved dad.

Monica lives in San Francisco with her husband Jonathan Rapp and their children Elana and Samuel. Monica teaches creative reuse workshops at Ruth’s Table, S.C.R.A.P., The San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, FabMo and the San Francisco Center for the book. Monica blogs occasionally at http://www.artfulrecrafter.com .

Works by Connie Murray, Martha Jones and Kim Larson

Opening September 15th, 2017 we have a show not to be missed!!! Three incredibly talented mosaic artists will be featured together for the first time: Connie Murray, Kim Larson and returning Reclaimed Room Artist from 2013, Martha Jones.

Connie Murray

Connie Murray is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Person-Centered Expressive Arts therapist. She has been artistic all her life; doodling, building lamps, sculpture out of obscure objects, and painting the interior of her home a variety of colors. Fifteen years ago Connie began tiling household furniture as an expressive outlet not only for herself but also in her practice as a healing resource for addiction recovery. In her practice following the sequential PCEAT approach all artistic venues offer a path to personal growth and healing.

As an older adult diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Dyslexia she has found that mosaic sculpture is a perfect medium for her artistic expression. The meditative quality of mosaics provides a vehicle for gaining an in-depth understanding of life experiences, and to organize ideas. Additionally this meditative quality has allowed her to seek a graduate degree as it structures time to process research. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Psychology at San Francisco’s Saybrook University with a certification in Expressive Arts under the guidance of Natalie Rogers, PhD., REAT.

Connie’s mosaic adventure crossed over from furniture to mannequins when she was given a dancing figure and decided it was the perfect platform for expressing the frustrations of the transition through menopause. Her creations include a variety of glass, mirror and found objects in strong colors representing feelings involved with women’s issues, death and life transition, and the women who are currently or in the past have been an important part of her life.

Mosaic work by Connie Murray

Martha Jones at work in her studio.

As a Reuse and Upcycle artist, Martha’s work is created from discarded materials. Her quest for abandoned treasures are found on the street, in salvage yards, in thrift stores, yard sales or gifted, just to name a few.

Degreed as an Interior Designer, but with a passion for salvaging, Martha’s work is lively and humorous. Her color combinations and compositions reflect her professional training and inner talents.

“Interior Design has always been my first passion, although salvaging was a close second. I grew up just outside of Boston. I remember looking forward to trash night where you can go out and search street after street for goodies. The reuse passion never ended…things from the past have a soul.”

Mosaic work by Martha Jones

Kim Larson

Kim Larson’s exquisite mosaic work honors organic form as well as delights the eye. Using stained glass, broken china, recycled glass & mirror, found objects, etc as tesserae, Kim works in a playful and unique style.

“My current series, as with all my mosaics, is about the interplay between recognizable shapes and surprising textures & colors. I create very recognizable shapes (substrates) and then ‘flesh them out’ so to speak, with surprising juxtapositions of color and lay patterns. ”

“I find mosaics to be crazy-making! At times I have to admit I walk that fine line between sanity and insanity because each cut, each piece, each color, each placement has to be perfect! Specifically, I like to work with sparkly, mirrored, textured, brightly_colored glass, recycled glass and found objects. I feel like I am painting with light.”

The reflective qualities of the glass force the viewer to move around the piece to see it truly take shape and reveal itself. The recycled china, tiles and found objects create an intimacy with the viewer when recognizable things are used in new ways. “Mosaic art is not a static medium. The play of light adds an extra dimension one doesn’t find in many other art forms.”

Three cow heads

The show will run from September 15th through November 10th.

departure is the work of these five material driven artists: Tim Armstrong, Ramiro Cairo, Katerina Connearney, Miles Epstein and Rachel Leibman. They are gathering together for the first time to create an art and shopping experience in the most immersive way possible, in a place where things “just show up”. Innovated objects will be presented in a way that can inspire you to see them in a different light. The show opens Friday, May 12th and will run thru July 7th.

Tim Armstrong

“Of economic necessity and invention, I have discovered a way to make monotype prints with materials salvaged from dumpsters. My skull prints are made using tar paper, mop heads and camping fuel gathered from dumpsters near construction sites and homeless encampments, I like the simple suggestion of a burning fuse. Mounted on the back of each print is the original collage. The wall sized work is an experiment using old car gaskets, stove burners and instant coffee. Originally conducted on a cement floor, the drawing was then coated with elastomeric roof paint and burlap and peeled off the ground. I am mainly interested in using undiscovered processes as an artist, in containing a method as it leads to a metaphor.”

Debris Mural

Skull Print

Ramiro Cairo

Ramiro Cairo is an Argentine artist, based in San Francisco. His speciality is the reuse of disused objects and technological scrap, creating works of art and design, such as TV mirrors, TV coffee tables, circuit board lamps, vacuum tube figurines and sculptures in limited editions.

“Most of my work navigates the space between design and art, between functionality and personality, combining creativity, surprise, humor and reuse. I’m motivated by finding a different use for objects originally built for a particular  purpose. My challenge is to find them a new line of work, giving them an extended lifespan and making them useful again.”

“Bricks for good is my latest work in which I make objects out of bricks. The tape dispenser is the first object of this series in which the pieces are shaped by chiseling down the brick as if it was a sculpture, using a hammer, chisels and an angle grinder. Why bricks? Well, I just want to give them a good use instead using them for a nonsensical Wall.”

Tape Dispenser

Katerina Connearney

Katerina Connearney is a figurative artist and woodworker originally from Greece and currently living in San Francisco. In this exhibit, the focus is on making functional furniture pieces from (almost) all recycled or reclaimed materials. The majority of the materials were, appropriately enough, found here at Building Resources. “One never knows what beautiful and promising bit of rusty metal or weathered wood one will come across when ambling around (the yard), and more often than not we go home with these treasures not knowing why or how we will use them. The fun is in playing with them – rearranging, bending, taking apart, putting back together, and eventually seeing what is recreated.”

BR Cabinet

Miles Epstein

“This is the second time I’ve had the opportunity to show work at The Reclaimed Room and I am honored and inspired to be showing with four other talented artists. We all know this space in our own way, and all work very independently and in different materials: brick, canvas, wood, plastic and metal, objects of interest, tissue and paper.”

“Of note is the name of this show. Hanging out at the yard I am most inspired when someone leaves with something encouraging, be it an idea, an inspiration, or a doorknob. departure speaks to the inspiration of the material object.”

tissue painting – blue head

Rachel Leibman

Rachel Leibman is a mixed media artist from San Francisco. Her artwork spans the gamut from tiny two-dimensional collages to room-sized installations. The unifying thread in all her pieces is repetitiveness and obsessive attention to detail. Leibman’s process is extremely meticulous and labor-intensive.

For the “departure” exhibit, Leibman has chosen to display two large installations from her “Vessels” series. “Elijah Makes the Rounds” is composed from vintage kiddish cups; goblets used in Jewish rituals such as Passover seders. With a sly sense of humor, this piece evokes sweet childhood memories. “Daily Dose” is composed from hundreds of plastic prescription pill bottles, collected from Leibman’s friends, family, and her own personal stash. This piece is a commentary on the state of the pharmaceutical industry in the U.S.

Leibman’ artwork has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows on both coasts. Her collages are part of many private and public collections including Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, American Airlines HQ in Dallas, and the Art Collection at the Hebrew Home in New York City.

Elijah Makes the Rounds

Daily Dose