Page 20 - the NOISE April 2014

20 • APRIL 2014 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
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John Rogers, the Trans-Mission Man, is a longtime contributor to the Recycled Art Show, opening April 26 at the Hozhoni Gallery.
he salvaged now prehistoric record-sized computer hard drives that NAU was about to scrap.
“I just enjoy making this stuff,” he says. “Transmissions are an endeavor where you
know you’re doing something to help peo- ple out, but no one wakes up in the morning and says, ‘Oh boy! I get to buy a transmis- sion today!’ It’s a useful thing but you’re not necessarily going to make somebody happy. This makes people happy — and that’s a lot of my motivation.”
Mr. Rogers’ kaleidoscopes can be found at West of the Moon Gallery in downtown Flag- staff; a larger variety of his work at his shop/ gallery Trans-Mission Man, 2019 E. 6th Ave- nue in Flagstaff, online at trans-missionman. com and, of course, at this year’s Recycled Art Show.
Featured on this month’s cover is last year’s Recycled Art Show winner in the cat- egory of Most Creative by assemblage artist John Stebila. Inspired by the 1952 Oldsmo- bile trunk ornament, The Daily Planet tells the narrative of “Superman’s Lament.”
“The moment I saw it, I was reminded of the Daily Planet building from the Superman TV series,” he says. “The ‘finials’ atop the piece suggest a city skyline; the rulers are indica- tive of bricks, and the clock faces represent Superman’s paradox. His father warned against interfering with human develop- ment, but when Lois Lane was crushed to death, Superman’s lament was so great, his heart won out over his mind. He circled the earth counter clockwise, turning back time so he could save her. In all his challenges, he knew he could defeat his foes by simply turn- ing back time, but in his wisdom and under- standing of the nature of duality; he knew we humans learn best through struggle.”
The components of The Daily Planet in- clude a replica of the Space Needle from Ger- many, vintage rulers, clock parts, boat lights, metal book binding with clasp, a car ther-
mometer and other eclectic odds and ends. Stay tuned for Mr. Stebila’s 2014 submission, drawn from his recent exhibit at the Vhay Gallery, showcased in last month’s issue.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from the clunky car parts Mr. Rogers transforms into art, are the ephemeral, paper creations of Susan Wilcox, who has submitted a piece to the Recycled Art show every year since its inception in 2002. Like Mr. Rogers, she never thought of herself as an artist — recycling and repurposing have always been a natu- ral part of her life, whether it’s composting or making flower bouquets out of junk mail. Over the years she has entered woven alumi- num can strips mounted on Styrofoam food packaging; a sweater out of scraps from other sweaters, and has spun dog hair into sashes and scarves. This year her focus is ori- gami, which she has been practicing for 40 years, and creates out of magazines, maps, calendars, fliers, food labels and packaging materials.
“It’s just paper and it’s everywhere,” she says. “There’s so much of it. Everything can go around at least one more time. I fuse plastic bags into shelf liners and tote bags. I recycle as much of my dishwater as I can into the garden; I compost. I’ve done it all my life. We’re an extremely wasteful society
— if you look at any other place in the world. They’re making things out of license plates or oil drums. In Mexico they make wonder- ful toys out of things people throw away. We don’t even think about it in this society. It just goes in the landfill and you know how huge those are. These bouquets can be used to start your fire in the winter or can recycle back into paper.”
Ms. Wilcox enjoys the Recycled Art Show because anyone can enter and she is humble about her creations, seeing them more as crafts than art.
“The Recycled Art Show is one of Flagstaff’s most fun and lively shows,” she says. “It’s a