By: MAC students Abby Johnson & Elana Bean
In MAC, we have classes called Creative Expressions. Our C.E. class is called Upcycle, and Caitlin is our teacher. She guides us and helps us make our ideas more useful.
In this class, we are taking any form of trash and recycled goods, then turning them into something that people might actually use. We have the chance to make works of art, while not producing a bunch of waste doing it. Our planet is on the line, and if we have the opportunity to make something out of old and used objects, we will take it!
The amount of freedom we have seems endless because our imaginations can fly. When someone may see trash, we see something that can be given a new life. This class in a way helps the environment and even the ocean. We are reusing things that would probably have ended up in places they shouldn’t be.
On one of the first days that we had Upcycle class, Nayeli, Max and I (Abby) went to all the classrooms, and even the music teacher’s office to get their trash. We got lots of paper and useful things for doing projects but there just wasn’t really anything complete we could make out of it.
This is where Scrap came in! We recently went to a store in downtown Portland called Scrap. Scrap is a place that has the most random things for super cheap. They have pretty much anything you can think of. Scrap was a big help to us.
We got lots of used resources to start our projects that we will be selling at MAC’s coffee house on November 21st, as well as the schoolwide Explore Art on December 6th. On our trip to Scrap, we got to see Portland, experience the traffic and terrible parking, eat lunch at a park, play on the playground at the park, and walk through the beautiful nature that the park had to offer. Scrap really helped inspire us and get things that could’ve just gone to the dump but instead, we got a chance to use them. What a fun day that this class enabled us to have!
We hope that the things we make don’t sit on people’s shelves but can be used. In Upcycle we limit ourselves to making things that are creative, efficient and practical. Some things that are being worked on are headbands, wrapping paper, lampshades, tennis ball friends, and even a pair of shoes! We would love to see you at our booth for Coffeehouse and Explore Art!
