GreenSpot and the Arts

Introducing GreenSpot and the Arts!

GreenSpot artAre you an artist that uses recycled material and/or renewable energy sources for your works of art?

Yes! Then think Columbus GreenSpot!

Art and sustainability are natural partners. Whether using recycled materials, repurposed materials, or using renewable energy to power an art piece- the materials are there. So let's partner up!

Artists, here is your opportunity to be spotted in the green. Check out our Sustainable Art flyer(PDF, 351KB) or see below.

Here is how it works:

  1. Create your unique, original work of art that uses recycled material and/or renewable energy.
  2. Take pictures of your art piece from all angles (minimal 4).
  3. Email GreenSpot@columbus.gov
  4. GreenSpot will review and then post the images to GreenSpot social media (Facebook, Twitter, website).

Did you know?
This project is to encourage art works that use recycled and/or repurposed material. Did you know that every year, the SWACO landfill disposes of nearly a million tons of waste? Yet 70% of this could be diverted through reuse, recycling, composting and other methods. Demonstrating that materials can be reused for other purposes can raise awareness with the public. Reducing the amount of materials that end up in the landfill can extend the life of the landfill as well as our natural resources.


Landfill Avoided

Artist Shivee Gupta understands that creating works of art from objects that would have ended up in the landfill is important. Not only does it keep those materials out of the waste stream it raises awareness to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. See more work from Shivee Gupta.

From Shivee: these hearts have pieces of broken jewelry, pieces of my old art, dried paint scraps, random doo-dads that would have all ended up in the trash.

Shivee Gupta 1 resized hearts with scrabble tiles and other materials Shiva art resized

Although it may be difficult to see this last painting has a lot of texture that was created from wrapping tissue paper that otherwise would have been thrown out.

Shivee Gupta 1 resized paper work

Below is made on recycled cardboard.

Shivee Gupta 4 resized


Trash to Treasure

Susanna Harris created this work of art out of garbage. The title is "Growing on Trees" and she was inspired by the trash that litters the Earth paired with the growing human population. Trash seems to grow on trees it is so prevalent. A focus must be made on a reduction of consumption as well as an education of repurposing, and reusing.

Materials: Collagraph prints assemblage with bound paper, hand dyed cotton fiber, thread, plastic, broken glass, copper wire. 5x6in 2018

Trash leaf1 Trash leaf2


Old Metal Parts Recycled for Bright Lights!

Studio6287 builds cool lamps from re-purposed and reclaimed parts. They spend days searching for the right parts to create each unique lamp. Each lamp has a different theme. See more work from Studio6287.

Studio 6287 lamp1 studio 6287 lamp2


Santa + Recycling = Winter Wonderland

OBLSK worked with Polaris Fashion Place to create "Santaville", an interactive, immersive, magical experience for children to venture through as they wait to meet the man of the hour. Santa Claus! The two main building materials we used in the installation were F-Sorbs (used for our snowflakes) and Baltic Birch wood (used for the Santa village). F-Sorbs is amazing! It's an acoustic paneling that is made from 65-96% recycled content that contain no adhesives, paints, coatings, VOC's, formaldehyde, fiberglass insulation, wood, agriculture or paper products. Learn more about OBLSK here.

Santaville installation Santaville install2 Santa install santa room


A New Life in 3-D

Instead of rusting in a landfill, old car parts, scraps, and other bits are collected by artist Mindy Keys to make art! She even uses old drawer fronts, scrap wood, or discarded pictures for the backing boards. Check out more recycled masterpieces from Mindy Keys.

Mindy Keys birds Mindy Keys car front2 Mindy Keys ohio


Chocolate Wrappers Second Life

Old candy wrappers have a new life in Nelsa Abalo's works of art. She starts by painting the glass and the color added later with chocolate wrappers. Some of her work was on display at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center.

nelsaelephant nelsapeacock


Old Bags, New Life

While we continue to reduce the amount of plastic we use in every day life, you can reuse bags to create awesome works of art like Anita Maharjan did. See more work from Anita Maharjan.

Anita art work plastic bags The Wall-Anita GSArts Destiny-Anita GSArts


Recycled Pallets

Rita Fuller-Yates uses old pallet slats and turns them into a thing of beauty. Learn more about Rita Fuller-Yates.

Rita Fuller-Yates 1fortext boxformatted


Recycled Metal

The Kiggins Collection is made out of recycled metal. Some of these figures are displayed at the Shadow Box Live.

Kiggins3 for landing pageKiggins art1Kiggins art 4 for landing pageKiggins3 with adjusted size for landing page