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'Growing' Art From Plastic Bags

Lynden Sculpture Garden

Yevgeniya Kaganovich is a jewelry maker and metalsmith who applies the techniques of her trade to other media.

She says while her new project involves using plastic grocery bags, the methods of construction is steeped in the metal arts tradition.

Kaganovich is Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. But she is also an artist at residence at the Lynden Sculpture Gardenand her new project is an exploration of the ubiquitous plastic grocery bag and the issue of reuse.

Now, here’s where you come in. Kaganovich has a number of collection sites around Milwaukee where the public, that means you, is invited to donate bags to the project. But, that’s not all. You can also participate in creating the sculpture at several workshops held at the Lynden Sculpture Garden.

Material World contributor Gianofer Fields caught up with Kaganovich in the Lynden Sculpture Garden’s classroom to discuss the project and see how an artist breathes new life into discarded plastic.

Fields studies material culture at UW-Madison and the curator of "It's a Material World" - that project is funded by the Chipstone Foundation, a decorative arts foundation whose mission is preserving and interpreting their collection, as well as stimulating research and education in the decorative arts.