Junk artists are people who take materials that they have or find and use them as the basis for creating works of art. Often, these artists don’t have a particular idea in mind for an art piece until they start collecting the raw materials for their work. The items they find serve to inspire the direction of their pieces.

For example, let’s imagine that a junk artist got his hands on a bunch of solar safety signs that were being thrown out by a local business. Here are some of the things he might be inspired to make:

• Art based on the environment. Solar signs rely on power from the sun to make their lights work so the artist could create a lit-up design with an eco-awareness message behind it. Re-use is, after all, what junk art is all about!
• Health awareness art. Many safety signs warn about dangers such as the presence of hazardous waste; this could be the centerpiece for an art installation about cancer issues.
• Art about social issues. Other types of warning signs may lend themselves well to art that reminds us about the risks we take just by going out into society each day.
• Decorative or functional art. The signs may simply be painted or collaged over to serve as the base for other art.

Of course, most of us aren’t junk artists and most of us don’t have safety signs lying around our homes. But we can each be inspired by junk artists to re-purpose the items that we do have.

[Tags] solar safety signs, solar signs, safety signs [/Tags]