Jane Derby
I am part of a growing movement in contemporary art that uses “trash” as material for art making. “Lava” is in this tradition. It is a small bas relief made out of crushed plastic egg cartons and painted in oils. Although my work has an implied critique of our current environmental practices, it is the materials, as much as the message, that interest me. I love the transformative effect of combining the richness of oil paint with the debris of our culture, a call to look again at what we discard so easily.
Lava
Oil on salvage, 11” x 11” $200
Lava (off axis view)
I spent my youth scrounging around Harold’s Demolition when it still stood in Kingston’s inner harbour. Fittingly, after graduating from OCAD in 2007, my practice has focused on creating sculptural bas reliefs out of salvaged materials. My work has been shown in Kingston, Ottawa, and Toronto, and has won a number of awards, including the Environmental Spirit Award from the Recycling Council of Ontario.