The Canfield Gallery located in the Martha Canfield Memorial Free Library in Arlington, VT will be hosting works from four artists in their upcoming exhibit titled "Use it Again: Upcycled Art". Each artist uses different and unique techniques to include repurposed and upcycled materials that have inspired them. The exhibit will run from Feb. 22 – March 22, 2025, being open during regular library hours. An opening reception will take place on Sat. Feb. 22 from 1:00-3:00pm at the Canfield Gallery.

Scavenger Art Creations owners, Timothy Taggart and his wife Pamela currently reside in Cambridge, New York. Tim began to create his art from salvage materials and found objects. His work is designed to emphasize resourcefulness and encourage viewer engagement. Tim uses anything and everything he can lay his hands on for example auto parts, cycle components, sprockets, gears, old tools, horseshoes and metal scrap. His artistic gift is what gives a new lease of life to them. To keep with the scavenger art objective of using upcycled materials, Pam uses old tea pots, sugar bowls, creamers, teacups, glass crystals from chandeliers, and other various kitchen items to create, wind chimes, sun catchers, and garden art sculptures. "Our goal is to continue creating metal art and use upcycled/recycled materials in order to inspire others to appreciate the simple, neglected items from which our creations are formed."

Dawn Hale, creator of Upcycled Jewelry Art currently resides in Egg Harbor Township, NJ. Dawn, an Arlington Memorial High School graduate, spent her high school years playing the trumpet, working on the yearbook, and being crafty and creative. Dawn recently began creating beautiful upcycled works of art from broken or well-loved jewelry. Dawn says she "loves envisioning recognizable objects and creating them out of broken chains, beads, and crystals." Her passion for this medium started when the jewelry company she worked for went out of business. She started thinking about how the flowers of her favorite necklace would look great in a picture frame as flowers in a vase. So instead of throwing out broken jewelry, she started creating pictures of snowmen, Christmas trees, flowers in vases, butterflies, and much more. She creates small simple pieces and larger more personalized custom pieces with family heirloom jewelry.

Creative Sprouts Crafts owner, Heather Bushey, a native Vermonter who has always had a close connection with nature, grew up in Fairfax, VT and has lived in Waterville, Vermont for the last 20 years. Heather says "my outlets for expression have changed over the decades, however, the focus of my work has always been nature based." She had spent many years working with oil paint and in 2017, started integrating three dimensional objects into her paintings. As she continued to experiment, she found more use for natural, handmade and re-purposed objects and less need for paint. Eventually the work became so three dimensional that she decided to finish the work with epoxy in order to protect some of the more fragile elements. All images are built directly in repurposed frames, with most works constructed from a variety of ornate papers and objects that are either handmade, natural or repurposed. "It has brought me great joy to create art with so many items that were otherwise destined to be wasted. My inspiration comes from everywhere. There is an ocean of treasure just waiting to be discovered and repurposed and I look forward to continuing with this creative style indefinitely."

Brittany Bills, a veterinary assistant in Newfane, VT where she was born and raised creates "teabag art" with used teabags and acrylic paints. Britt said "I love all things nature and science and I have been painting for a long time but have only been recycling teabags into art for less than a year!" Britt creates "teabag art" by first drying and cleaning the innards from used tea bags. She began painting used teabags in March of 2024, when she saw an online picture of a painted teabag. Since then, many of her friends and coworkers have provided her with various teabags, all stained differently after being used, and in many different shapes and sizes. She unfolds some of the teabags into "bookmarks" or makes them flat like "paper" and then paints on them with acrylics to create framed upcycled teabag art. She has saved the herbs/ innards from inside a lot of the tea bags and hopes to use them in the future to make homemade paper out of discarded materials, including remnants from pressed flowers that she uses for other projects. She will then paint on that paper as well!

The Martha Canfield Memorial Free Library is fully accessible, with all programs and exhibits free and open to the public. Please call 802-375-6153 for more information.

Event Info

Feb 21, 2025, 12:30 to 1:30 PM

Feb 22, 2025, 9 to 10 AM

Feb 22, 2025, 10 to 11 AM