Eco Trash Couture
To View Project Details
Bella, 2016
A Bride on a Mission!
This sculpture is made from discarded plastic Tyvek® (used in sterilization pouches and bags for the medical industry) that was cut into strips and sewn to the dress. The flowers were made primarily by people attending medical industry conferences across the US in 2016. Bella’s goal is to bring awareness to the recyclablity of Tyvek®, and inspire the creation of recycling programs for this plastic film.
Commissioned by Beacon Converters in 2016.
Read this blog post to learn more about the creation and mission of Bella.
Opal, 2013
Created from a picnic basket, a vintage dress, plants collected at the Nature Conservancy’s Santa Fe Canyon Preserve, and dried flowers from the Santa Fe Farmers Market.
One morning while creating this dress, I awoke with the following poem in my head.
More and more, the spirits of the land
felt forgotten by humans,
and before they disappeared altogether
they decided to make themselves seen.
So branches, flowers and seeds
wove themselves together
and created a sprite to say:
As you pollute the air, the water, the soil,
as you cause plants and animals to die away
as you change the very earth itself
DON’T FORGET US.
While you live your lives–
dancing, working, singing, loving, praying–
remember our wildness in yourselves!
Nancy Judd, 2013
Watch this short video and read the blog post about creating Opal to see more photos and learn details about how this piece came to be.
Kevin and Jennifer Box purchased Opal and have generously loaned her to me to display in public locations to spread her word of environmental stewardship.
Sol Man
This sculpture was created during a Toyota TogetherGreen fellowship through the National Audubon Society in 2013. The project entailed creating a new piece based on an energy conservation educational program for 6th grade students at Ortiz Middle School in Santa Fe, NM.
The project had 4 parts:
Part 1. An energy curriculum was presented for 3 weeks to 6th graders in Ms. Sommer’s Science Class. The curriculum included how energy is created; the pros and cons of different energy sources; and how to conserve it. Homework assignments were to implement energy conservation actions in their homes using kits donated to each student by PNM.
Part 2. Nancy worked with the 6th Grade Art Class to design an “energy conservation” superhero costume.
Part 3. The Consumer Sciences Class helped her to construct the cape for the costume. It is made from energy conservation scrap materials from the Energy Smart Academy at the Community College. It sits on a pedestal that is an old solar cell.
Part 4. The completed costume was displayed in prominent public locations around Santa Fe and Albuquerque and is on permanent display at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico.
Read the blog post with additional photos and project details!
Thank you to the following collaborators that made this project possible!
- Toyota funded the fellowship that I received.
- The National Audubon Society administered the fellowship.
- The Santa Fe Public Schools (Lisa Randal, Ellen Levy, Amy Summa) provided project coordination.
- Erika Sommer, Ed Chacon and Myoko Costello graciously invited me into their classrooms.
- PNM (Melissa Leymon) donated the curriculum and energy efficiency kits and helped with planning.
- The Santa Fe Community College’s New Mexico Energy$mart Academy (Amanda Evans) supplied educational materials to the science class as well as materials to create the Sol Man.
- The City of Santa Fe, Sustainable Santa Fe program (Katherine Mortimer) provided project support.
- Summit Electric Supply (Mike Prada) donated 100 CFL bulbs.
- Santa Fe Place Mall (Lance Farrell) donated space to display the Sol Man for 2 months and event planning and refreshments for the opening reception.
- Target supplied refreshments for the opening reception.
- KHFM (Kathleen King and Dana Childs) Radio Station advertised the event and did several interviews.
- Santa Fe New Mexican (Robert Knott and Jane Roberts) wrote about and photographed the classroom portion of the project.
- Santa Fe Reporter (Enrique Limón) wrote about and photographed the Sol Man.
- Dan Radven welded the legs, arms, armature and base.
- Nicole Morris assured the musculature was correct.
- Elizabeth Baker captured the project on film.
- Positive Energy (Regina Wheeler, Allan Sindelar) supplied the old solar cell that is the base for the sculpture.
- Carl Rosenthal provided many materials used to make the Sol Man.
- Jim and Marj Mullany provided window insulation used to create his suit.
- Los Alamos National Bank (Kate Kennedy) is helping to fund displaying of the Sol Man over the next year.
- Earth Care International (BJ Davis, Rose Griego) is my non-profit fiscal sponsor accepting funds for the display of the Sol Man.
Re-visoning Erté
Made from silk scraps, leftover from a jacket my mother made over 30 years ago, and aluminum cans. This dress stands only 33 inches tall, half the size of my full-size garments.
Completed in 2012 in 100 hours.
Read a blog post about creating Re-visoning Erté.
Crime Scene
Police tape is fashioned into “warning-wear”.
Tape from police crime scenes across the west, cover a dress made from torn table cloths. This cautionary costume took 50 hours to create and was completed in 2011.
Read a blog post about creating Crime Scene.
__________________________________________
Scientists estimate that everyone alive today carries within her or his body at least 700 contaminants.
90 percent of the 85,000 synthetic chemicals registered today in the United States, have NOT been tested for their effects on human health. Many of these chemicals persist in the environment and accumulate in our bodies creating susceptibility to cancer as well as many other health problems.
Don’t let your body be a crime scene! Reduce your families exposure to toxins by eating organic food; eliminating pesticides, chemical cleaners and air fresheners from home and work; and “air out” new carpets, painted rooms, furnishings, and anything else with that “new smell” before indoor use. Better yet – buy safer products that don’t off-gas toxic fumes.
Sources: Coming Clean, Breast Cancer Fund, Healthy Child/Healthy World
Eco-Flamenco
5,000 people helped create this passionate dress!
Cereal boxes painted with recycled paint have been transformed into cascades of ruffles that contain over 5,000 eco-pledges—commitments of actions that people will take to help the environment. The ruffles cover a dress made from parachute scraps. This dramatic dress took 650 hours to create and was completed in 2011.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Which one of the following was NOT an eco-pledge sewn to this dress?
- I will shop locally.
- I will eat organic food.
- I will live in a tree and eat bananas.
- I will use my car less.
- I will reuse and recycle everything I can.
Answer: 3.
We don’t have to live like monkeys to live lighter on the earth! Every moment we make simple decisions that affect the planet. What can you do in your life to help the environment?
The Environmental Steward-ess
Fly away with this super-hero stewardess uniform made from airline discards.
The uniform, hat and purse are sewn from worn-out leather seat covers from Delta planes. The cape is made from replaced safety cards, Sky Magazines, old plane tickets, and pretzel wrappers all cut into strips and sewn onto worn pillow cases. The cape was then lined with a discarded Delta blanket. Both the cape and purse appear to fly in the wind thanks to armatures created from metal wire used for yard signs during the last presidential election. Recycled aluminum cans were used to create the vintage Delta symbol on the purse, hat and belt. The Purse was designed and made by Tierra Ideas. Completed in 2011.
Commissioned by Delta Air Lines.
Read more about the making of theEnvironmental Steward-ess.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Did you know that airlines reduce their environmental impact by:
- Recycling aluminum, plastic and paper used on board the planes.
- Installing a little winglet on the end of the airplane wing.
- Offering “carbon off-sets” to customers for the miles they fly.
- Researching use of alternative fuels that are less harmful to the environment.
Many airlines, including Delta Air Lines, take all the measures listed above, plus they are instituting more efficient flight planning; dispatch procedures; flight operations procedures; and air traffic control initiatives that can save 70 million gallons of fuel per year.
Source: www.news.Delta.com
Youth Eco-Dress
Made by 2,000 children out of recycled office paper!
During Ms. Judd’s youth presentations about recycling and the environment, she asks the kids write their names and something that they would do to help the environment on a strip of recycled paper. These eco-pledges were turned into long paper link chains to cover the dress.The base of the dress is made of discarded sheets from the historic La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, NM, dyed sage green. The garment has two petticoats made from these same sheets as well as old table cloths. A four layered hoopskirt supports the two petty coats, the dress and the chains made from the pledges. The wire in the hoopskirt came from the frames used for yard signs during the Obama campaign. Before the pledges were made into the chains, each one was adhered to the white table cloths (also used in the petticoats) to assure that the chains do not get crushed over time. Completed in 2011.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2,600 eco-pledges made by children across the United States cover this dress.
Here are samples of some of the pledges:
- Lilia: I’ll get my clothes from second hand stores
- Graham: I want to have timed 3 minute showers
- Ethan: Unplug my charger when not using it
- Emily: Turn off lizards heat lamp when it is sunny out
- Abelino: Use fabric shopping bags
- Manuel: Walk to school
- Mayra: Composting
- Laura: Yo voy a reciclar papel
- Astrid: Use only what you need
What can YOU do to live lighter on the earth?
Recycling Fiesta
This spicy little number is right on Target with business recycling!
The skirt, armbands and top were made from an employee’s old shirt and accented with plastic Target bags. Paper beads were created from cardboard product displays. The Carmen Miranda style headdress was made with plastic bags, old cardboard displays and a returned baseball game. This festive combo took 100 hours to create. Created in 2002.
Commissioned by Target®
__________________________________________________
Be an eco-leader on the job, learn how at: www.epa.gov/climatechange
Businesses of all sizes can help the environment by implementing green programs such as:
- Considering manufacturing materials and the inefficiency of waste.
- Adhering to green building standards when building new structures.
- Purchasing supplies containing recycled and non-toxic materials.
- Creating a recycling program for office paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and aluminum.
- Promoting carpooling and public transportation among employees.
Source: Environmental Projection Agency
Obamanos Coat
Part of the Smithsonian Institution’s permanent collection!
Door hangers from the 2008 Obama campaign were cut into 2 inch strips and machine sewn to panels made from canvas scraps. The panels were hand stitched on the vintage man’s winter coat. This voter gear took 25 volunteers over 400 hours to complete. It was created in 2009.
Change Couture Collection at the Green Inaugural Ball
The Obamanos Coat is part of the Change Couture Collection which was showcased at numerous inaugural balls in Washington D.C. in 2009 for the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has added the Obamanos Coat to its permanent collection and is considering its inclusion in one of the initial exhibitions when the museum opens on the National Mall in 2015.
