A Load of Rubbish Visual Arts Project

This year we were delighted to receive funding from Recycle for Greater Manchester Community Fund to deliver ‘A Load of Rubbish’, a visual art project by Paradise Works promoting recycling and preventing waste in Salford. Through three core strands of activity the project delivered a series of creative interventions, educational activities, and community workshops raising awareness, promoting behavioural change and seeding continued community action against waste. As part of this project artist Ella Bean created a series of illustrations, zines and resources to accompany each strand of the project. You can browse through her interactive Wormery, Will It Compost, and Pulp It zines below.

Wormery Workshop

Studio memberJames Ackerley lead a three part workshop building a community wormery with participants from the Doosti group, an organisation bringing people together from refugee and asylum backgrounds to reduce isolation and loneliness. Made from environmental friendly materials and discarded pieces of wood stained with beetroot and turmeric juice, the wormery is now installed in Doosti’s garden in Salford. Informed by these workshops, James created a second wormery for the Bridgewater community garden opposite Paradise Works, which is being used by local residents to create nutrient rich soil and fertiliser.

Illustrations by Ella Bean, commissioned by Paradise Works and funded by Recycle for Greater Manchester Community Fund.

Repair Shop Workshop and Residency

In this Repair Workshop lead by studio member Maisie Pritchard participants created sculptures and pieces of furniture using discarded and recycled materials collected from Suez recycling hub in Manchester. Throughout the workshop we worked with local residents and participants from Emmaus, a charity supporting people who have experienced homelessness. After the completion of the three-part workshop, Maisie underwent a residency in an old Post Office space at Walkden Shopping Centre, where she created a series of commissioned sculptures informed by the workshops.

Illustration by Ella Bean, commissioned by Paradise Works and funded by Recycle for Greater Manchester Community Fund.

Fly Tip Print Workshop

During this printing workshop lead by studio member Gwen Evans participants created a series of cyanotype prints using litter, found objects, plants and stencils collected from Paradise Works and the Irwell riverside. Cyanotype is an eco-friendly printing process, creating unique blue prints of objects within minutes of exposure to the sun.

Rubbish Tool and Mark Making Workshop

Sculptor Maisie Prichard and printmaker Gwen Evans combined their skills to deliver a rubbish tool making workshop using recycled materials. The tools created were used to make a series of experimental drawings and paintings.

Final Event and Exhibition

To mark the end of the project we closed with a final event and exhibition at Walkden Shopping Centre to exhibit all the wonderful artwork made by our workshop participants. During the event we also unveiled commissioned artwork created by Maisie during her residency at Walkden Shopping Centre, and delivered creative drop in activities using recycled materials.

This project is funded by the Recycle for Greater Manchester Community Fund; a joint Recycle for Greater Manchester and SUEZ initiative accessed through the Greater Manchester Environment Fund.