Trash to Art

Join artist Kim Bernard for a show and tell about how she creates sculpture that is recycled, kinetic, interactive, involves the community and is public.  Working with materials such as ocean debris, bicycle inner tubes, bowling balls, reusable nylon bags and plastic, she aims to inspire and raise awareness about environmental issues, overconsumption and preserving our precious natural resources. Bernard will also talk about her ongoing project, the Pop-Up-Cycler (a portable, pop-up, maker space, upcycling mobile) she built to transport her plastic recycling machines to schools, art centers and institutions where she’ll turn plastic trash into sculptural installations.

Kim Bernard creates sculpture that is recycled, kinetic, interactive, public and involves the community. She creates installations upcycled out of trash and is currently focusing on transforming plastic waste into sculpture. She shows her work nationally and has been invited to participate in many exhibits, some of which include the Portland Museum of Art, Fuller Craft Museum, Harvard University, Art Complex Museum and the Farnsworth. Her work has been reviewed in the Boston Globe, Art News and Art New England. Bernard is the recipient of the Artist Advancement Grant, Kindling Fund Grant, NEFA grant, 6 Maine Arts Commission Grants as well as funding from the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. She was an artist-in-residence in the Physics Department at Harvard University and UNE. She received her BFA from Parsons in 1987 and her MFA from Mass Art in 2010. Bernard teaches at the Maine College of Art and Colby College.

This event will be facilitated online only. To receive a Zoom link, please register HERE. 

This event is supported by a National Endowment of the Humanities’ Spotlight on Humanities grant for Plymouth State University’s Sustainability Studies program.