Reconsidering Trash: Artist Breathes New Life Into Discarded Copper
Artist Marylou Ashooh Lazos’s exhibit gives new life to discarded copper, reminding us that beauty can be anywhere.
Reconsidering Trash, by Marylou Ashooh Lazos. Photograph courtesy of Marylou Ashooh Lazos.
Reconsidering Trash, currently on view through September at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce gives a creative new look to pieces of her past and found objects – or “other people’s trash”, creating a series of beautifully assembled copper circuits that are serendipitously more than a sum of their parts.
“As the daughter of a ‘Depression-baby,’ I find it difficult to discard anything that might have another use,” Lazos remarks. “As a result, broken pieces of jewelry, hardware, toys and tech bits have collected in my studio, ready for a new purpose.”
Lazos starts with a stack of discarded circuit boards found in the trash at an old mill, then lets her creativity take over.
“I was drawn to how the gold and other precious metals were laid into colorful plastics with brass, copper pins and wires forming fantastic patterns with a beauty all their own,” she said. “With the help of friends and the trash heap, I’ve continued to accumulate bits of beautiful tech.”
Best known as a figure artist working primarily in colored pencil on toned paper, this medium is an evolution of her work. Lazos’ drawings evoke the feeling of old master sketches and capture the first hand observances of working directly from the model.
“I developed a passion for objects charged with stories of the past from my work as a museum curator in Manchester,” she said. “Recently, I’ve ventured into the world of assemblage art, finding inspiration from the thousands of things around us. These pieces include found objects and bits of accumulated treasures from my own past; plus, beautiful things others have discarded.”
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Also in this Issue:
- Roger Casey: Copper From the Heart
- Reconsidering Trash: Artist Breathes New Life Into Discarded Copper
- Frick Museum Offers 360 Virtual Tours
- Adam Colangelo: Copper on Fire
- 3D Printing of Pure Copper Now Available to Artists