Eco Trash Couture
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ReDress: Upcycled Style at the Stamford Museum
In September my traveling exhibition, ReDress: Upcycled Style, opened in the Stamford Museum and Nature Center in Stamford, Connecticut. I visited the exhibition to give a presentation and workshop. I also had an unexpectedly empowering experience, but first, a bit about the trip. One of the neat things about the Stamford Museum is that in addition to the museum they have a huge farm with animals. I am excited to have my work there because their mission blends the arts, environmental stewardship and life-long learning.
Stamford Museum and Nature Center
I also found the history of the site to be quite interesting, it was built by a fashion magnate, Henri Bendel. Mr. Bendel made his mark by becoming the first retailer to brand himself. Having registered his own trademark in 1895, he created the now legendary brown and white striped shopping bag and hatbox. Bendel was the first luxury retailer with an upper Fifth Avenue address, and the first to stage a fashion show. This fact was particularly interesting to me since I began creating my sculptures for (recycled) fashion shows, so I feel indebted to his creation of this now ubiquitous event, a fashion show. He was also responsible for bringing Coco Chanel to the United States. He built the large 10,000 square-foot, neo-Tudor mansion as a summer home in 1929 and the Museum moved into the property in 1955. I really enjoyed exploring the house, grounds and beautiful marble sculptures shipped from Italy. I like to think that Henri would have enjoyed my exhibition of couture fashion with a twist!
Check out Justin’s awesome new shoelaces and Amy’s fall scarf!
After a well attended gallery tour and talk, the staff held a beautiful farm-to-table meal that was also a fundraiser for the Museum. Coincidentally, it was my Birthday and I was delighted to have over 50 people sing to me while I blew out the candle on the tallest cupcake I had ever seen! The next day I taught one of my favorite workshops, transforming old T-shirts into new objects. We began by making over 20 dog toys for a local animal shelter, and then the 15 participants created items ranging from shoe strings to scarves and reworked shirts with new style. I was excited that Amy and Justin from the Trashion Fashion Show joined us, they stage “trashion” shows on the East Coast using ballet dancers as models. I also met a wonderful woman who’s family-owned business is interested in sponsoring a new sculpture from me. Thank you to all the Museum staff for hosting me and my traveling exhibition.
Now, back to my unexpected experience: whenever I visit my exhibition at a new museum I always spend a little time with the sculptures making minor repairs, mostly gluing glass back on to the Glass Evening Gown! This time I also worked on the Eco-Flamenco dress which is covered with eco-pledges made by 5,000 people. The Museum invites visitors to take their own eco-pledges and so on a whim, I filled out a pledge card and shared it that night during my gallery talk: “I will ask all of the hotels that I stay in to turn down the temperature in the mini-refrigerators”. This is a pet-peeve of mine because I always find them set on high, and I know that these refrigerators are used a very small percentage of the time they are on. When you think about the millions of hotel rooms around the world with refrigerators, this wastes a tremendous amount of energy which adds carbon to the atmosphere, unnecessarily contributing to climate change. So the day before I checked out of the Holiday Express Inn and Suites in Stamford (notably on the night of the full lunar eclipse and blood moon) I wrote my request on a comment card. By the time I returned home I had honestly forgotten about it until I received a note from the hotel manager saying: “We have shared your comments and feedback with our team and have started implementing (your suggestion) in our guest rooms.”
This was an empowering moment for me, I experienced how truly one small action can make a difference and it confirmed why I encourage people to make these pledges. I have since written to the parent company, InterContinental Hotels Group, to ask them to follow the lead of their hotel in Stamford and make this a policy at all of their properties.
Hotel room refrigerators, unnecessary contributors to climate change
I also did a little sleuthing around on the internet to see if I could find any information on the impact of mini-fridges in hotel rooms, the only thing I found was on www.KeyGreen.com, an organization in Denmark that awards eco-labels to over 2,400 hotels and other sites worldwide. They have their application form posted on-line and I was impressed to see a question asking the applying hotel if they have a policy to TURN OFF refrigerators (and TVs) when rooms are not in use. Not turn down, but turn OFF!
So, the next time you travel you might want to use this site, www.bookdifferent.com, to find a hotel that has a smaller carbon footprint. And if you encounter a refrigerator in your room, turn it to low (or off if you want to be radical) and leave a comment card for the hotel. And if they respond, please let me know!
Schack Art Center in Everett, WA
I was recently honored by being asked to emcee and show work in three trash-fashion shows across the great Pacific Northwest! Last summer I moved from Santa Fe, NM (my home for the last 20 years) to Portland, OR, where I grew up. It is great to be back in the climate that my body feels most comfortable in, and it’s exciting to discover new opportunities for my work in Oregon and Washington. Both states are renowned for their progressive sustainability efforts, and there is a lot of creative re-use, trash fashion, and innovative environmental education taking place here. Quite honestly, I did not know if there was room for another kid in the sand box, but I have been overwhelmed by the warm welcome I have received!
Upcycled Oregon in the State Capital
This spring started off with a bang at the Oregon State Capital in Salem where I emceed at a new event called Upcycle Oregon, created to raise awareness around resource use and waste reduction activities. The two day event began with a dynamic panel discussion featuring a diverse group of people that work with waste materials across Oregon. For example, Scott Hamlin is the co-founder/CEO of Loopworks which makes products and apparel out of industry scrap and waste materials such as old Southwest Airline seat covers. I really like this company because in addition to upcycling materials, they also design their products to be very durable and to be educational– as they state on their website: Only 1% of everything that’s purchased in the USA, is still in the USA after 6 months. That is an alarming statistic! Also on the panel was Mark Rumford with a company named Agilyx that is the first in the world to install commercial scale technology that turns waste plastics into refinery grade synthetic crude oil. That might not sound very exciting, but actually it’s a big deal because they can use the plastics that most recycling programs can’t take, which amounts to more than 75% of the plastics produced and usually landfilled. Their oil is recycled into plastic manufacturing feedstock or converted to transport fuels. I have grave concerns about the environmental and human health impacts of the huge amount of plastic we use and think we should focus on reducing our use of this material, especially single use items. However, like it or not our world is saturated with plastic and it is imperative to have a way to recycle it because not only does recycling keep it out of the landfills, but it also reduces the amount of oil we have to mine/refine.
This interesting panel was followed by an upcycled art exhibition, and then concluded with a trashion show the next day that showcased numerous new and seasoned designers. This was the first recycled fashion show that I have ever emceed in a state capital; it was a grand backdrop for the entire event and it felt significant to have our work honored in such an important historical and political location. I want to thank Carlee Wright from DIY Studio and and Jessica Ramey from Marion County who organized the upcycled art and fashion show, for inviting me to participate. DIY Studio is a neat organization that promotes creative, community and environmental awareness through teaching alternative approaches to creating art and diverting materials from the solid-waste stream.
Ruby Re-Usable with her fantastic models Lana, Lova and Lena Landfill.
Three weeks later I emceed a second trashion show at the Schack (pronounced shack!) Art Center in Everett, WA held in conjunction with an impressive exhibition titled Saving the Environment: Sustainable Art. This was a fun event for me because I met several experienced designers from Washington who have also been working with waste materials for many years. One of these, Ruby Re-Usable, is the colorful designer who organized the fashion show. Some of the other designers were Rebecca Maxim aka Alotta DeTritus, Jane Grafton aka Tinker’s Dam, and Kristie Maxim aka Elle Poubelle. I really enjoyed not only their creative names and impressive designs, but also the presentation and staging of their fashions. Susie Howell, an amazing photographer as well as designer of wearable upcycled fashions, hosted my spouse and me in her beautiful historic Marysville home!
One of the many high points of this experience was meeting artist Terra Holcomb. I recommend you take a moment to look at her work; she is very, very inspiring to me. Terra works exclusively with natural materials and makes ephemeral pieces that she wears for self portraits. In fact, the resulting piece of art is the photo because she leaves the garments to decompose back into nature. One of her few pieces that still exists, a magestic oceanic gown made from muscle shells, was one of the featured designs of the evening.
Washington State Recycling Association Conference
My Trashion Show Grand-Slam ended at the Washington State Recycling Association’s conference in Spokane, WA. Fashion show organizer, Abby Christensen invited me to join emcee Terra Heilman on stage at the elegant Davenport Hotel. I met yet another set of very talented designers and really enjoyed my time with the fun and dedicated group of Washington recyclers. As the previous executive director of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition, I was right at home with them and happy to have found my peeps.
Though I usually don’t participate in many trashion shows anymore, I had a great time at these events. (Most of my work these days revolves around creating new sculptures for my installation in the Atlanta Airport in 2017, and giving presentations and workshops to universities and various audiences.) It was like a door opened and I felt so welcomed this spring to Oregon and Washington by my colleagues in the upcycled art/fashion and waste reduction community, I’m so excited to become a part of these dynamic and warm-hearted groups!
I’m in the process of dreaming up some exciting new projects for my upcoming Atlanta exhibition with a number of local west coast groups including some the folks that I met at these events, so stay tuned for more details.
POST SCRIPT: I am writing this blog post while sitting on a train traveling back to Portland from Spokane, enjoying an absolutely beautiful ride along the Columbia River. As the train travels from the high desert climate of eastern Washington where Spokane is located, my heart swells at the site of the emerald green forests of the west side of this region. I longed for this land during the almost 30 years I lived outside of the Northwest, and find that, even now, after a short time away in a dryer area, I yearn for the moist climate my body was born to.
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Dawn over the Columbia River, from the train to Portland
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Emerald green views of the Pacific Northwest
Recycle Runway in Airports
Airports provide Recycle Runway an opportunity to reach millions of international travelers often with time to spare. Airports include public art in their buildings to reduce the stress associated with airline travel, and Recycle Runway provides an engaging and educational experience to passengers while they wait for their plane.
Nancy is excited to announce that due to the popularity of her first exhibition in the Atlanta Airport, they have invited her back to install a 2nd show of all new work in 2017!
Following are the airports participating with Recycle Runway:
- 2nd Exhibition, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Fall 2019
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Feb 2011- Mar 2012
- Phoenix International Airport, Feb 2010-Sept 2010
- Pittsburgh International Airport, Aug 2008-Aug 2009
- Albuquerque Sky Harbor International Airport, Oct 2007-Jan 2008
Recycle Runway in the Phoenix International Airport
Praise about the Recycle Runway Exhibition:
“Nancy Judd’s Recycle Runway installation was one of our most popular exhibitions.”
David Vogt, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Airport Art Program Manager
Book Nancy Judd to speak at your event!
When Nancy walks onto the stage dressed in one of her captivating recycled fashions, people stop to listen!
Nancy engages audiences across the nation with her unique creativity, inspiring personal story and infectious passion for environmental conservation. Click below to view her two TEDx talks!
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NEW OFFERING!The Price of Fashion –
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Images of Ms. Judd’s couture eco-fashions enchant audiences large and small. With humor, sincerity and engaging stories, she weaves photos of her glamorous creations into numerous speaking topics:
- Creative environmentalism
- The nitty-gritty of recycling, re-use, waste reduction and composting
- Living lighter on the earth in our daily lives
- Using art to inspire and motivate
- Imaginative entrepreneurship
- Art therapy – personal stories of using art to heal
- Leading a life of passion
- A feminine approach to environmental activism and art
- Engaging the media with great stories and photos
Ms. Judd has delivered inspiring speeches to a wide range of audiences for many years:
- Girl Scouts G.I.R.L. Conference in Columbus OH – 2017
- Ft. Collins Museum in Ft Collins, CO – 2017
- Modified Style Fashion show (Price of Fashion), Portland, OR – 2017
- Stamford Museum in Stamford, CT – 2015
- ReSourceful Use in Portland, OR – 2015
- Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA – 2014
- Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI – 2014
- Hatch Reuse Center in Champaign, IL – 2014
- Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) Chautauqua Lecture series – Richmond, VA 2014
- University Wisconsin, Textile and Apparel Design students – Madison, WI 2014
- Woodson Art Museum – Wuasua, WI 2014
- American Business Women’s Association, Albuquerque Chapter- Albuquerque, NM 2013
- Bascom Visual Arts Center- Highlands, NC 2013
- Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts- Melbourne, FL 2013
- TEDxAcequia Madre- Santa Fe, NM 2012
- Santa Fe School District, art teacher training – Santa Fe, NM 2012
- New Mexico Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts- Santa Fe, NM 2012
- TEDxABQ- Albuquerque, NM 2011
- Adams State College- Alamosa, CO 2011
- Urban Institute of Contemporary Art- Grand Rapids, MI 2011
- Atlanta International Airport Opening- Atlanta, GA 2011
- University Mall- Chapel Hill, NC 2010
- Pitzer College Alumna of the Year Award- Claremont, CA 2010
- Museum of International Folk Art- Santa Fe, NM 2010
- Fiber Arts Guild- Espanola, NM 2010
- Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center- Santa Fe, NM 2010
- Santa Fe Business Incubator- Santa Fe, NM 2009
- Santa Fe Community College- Santa Fe NM 2009
- Santa Fe’s Textile Arts Alliance- Santa Fe NM 2009
- Schools and Universities, across the nation 1999- present
“I watched people a they exited the lecture hall after your “Upcycled Style” talk. I saw refreshed and happy faces. The first words that came out of peoples months were: “incredible”, “amazing”, “awesome”! I truly feel that you connected with your audience and provided us with an experience, not just a lecture.”
Kristen Klein, Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts
“So many people told me how much they enjoyed your presentation and how they are inspired to do more. One thing I found very useful to this particular audience is how you explained creating your artwork as “solving problems/challenges”. I also appreicate how you relate to the audience and the background about your career changes/choices. I believe those things made it more real and possibly attainable through the college students eyes.”
Mary Hoffman, Adams State College
“Nancy presented SUCH a GREAT talk at TEDxABQ…she is an inspiration to us all to think more about what we throw away and how we can ALL do better by re-using and re-cycling our resources…”
TEDxABQ attendee
Ms. Judd can also combine one of her community-based workshops with a speaking engagement, contact her at 505-577-9712 or Nancy@RecycleRunway.com to learn more!
The Recycle Runway Collection
Nancy Judd creates couture fashion sculptures made from trash (the Recycle Runway Collection) and displays her work in traveling exhibitions in high-traffic locations such as museums, airports, and shopping malls. Each of her sculptures takes between 100-650 hours to create, and her goal is that they will last for 100 years. Ms. Judd loves the challenge of making garbage elegant and inspiring people to look differently at waste and consider how we use our limited resources.
Click on any of the sustainable fashion designs to the left to learn more about each piece!
Commissions
Mimi, created in Evanston, IL
Ms. Judd can create a site-specific piece for you or your organization. Nancy enjoys working in collaboration with her sponsors– asking the questions: “What are your waste materials?” and “What are the environmental issues that are pertinent to you or your region?” Using the answers to these questions Nancy designs site-specific commissions that are meaningful and pertinent to the sponsor. Including the community in the creation of the piece adds further depth to the projects. Click on “Mimi” (to the right) to read a blog post about such a project was created in 2011.
Praise from a garment sponsor:
 Recycling Fiesta, sponsored by Target |
“Nancy contacted the local Target store to make the Target recycling dress, and the store team really got into it by coming up with lots of materials we were recycling and even some that we weren’t. That made the team think more about what they were throwing away. It was a great project and the impact of the dress is excellent.” Jim Bosch, Target |
Contact Nancy Judd at 505-577-9712
505-577-9712 or nancy@recyclerunway.com for more information about garment sponsorship.
Up-cycled Fashion and Art Workshops
Nancy Judd provides unique and fun workshops that combine art, fashion and eco-consciousness. She creates community-building opportunities for you to engage your audience. Ms. Judd offers numerous kinds of workshops to fit the various needs and budgets of any organization.
On-line Classes and Workshops
Nancy provides virtual classes and workshops for adults (in businesses, non-profits or government agencies looking for team and morale building, creative inspiration and health and wellness experiences for their employees) and children of all ages.
Nature Art (AKA Nature Doodling)
Upcycled Art Workshops
Ms. Judd can lead participants in creating beautiful and fun objects from local waste materials that they can take home. Workshops are available in person and virtually! Project examples include:
 Candle holders made from recycled jars and magazines |
 Gift box made from old calendars |
 Up-cycled Accessories |
Up-cycled Fashion Workshops
Nancy has assisted groups around the country in designing and creating their own up-cycled fashions for over 15 years! Project examples include:
 Students in the Textile and Apparel Design Program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison |
 T-shirt Transformation workshop in Champaign, Illinois |
Recycle Runway Fashion Workshops
Nancy can create, with the help of your customers, a new Recycle Runway garment for your organization that is made from your waste materials. This is a memorable and engaging way to attract public and media attention to any kind of event. Nancy can design and create “life-size” garments, or “miniatures” depending upon your project and budget. Below are examples of three Recycle Runway Fashion Workshops.
 Eco-Flamenco, made by 5,000 people in Grand Rapids, Michigan |
 Tire-less Couture, created at the University Mall in Chapel Hill, NC |
 Jellyfish Dress, created in Lincoln City, OR |
Praise for Nancy’s Workshops:
“Thanks so much for the workshop!! It was really inspirational….not only as a push for recycling but as an artist. Great to see a fellow artist have success in the art world with something she feels passionate about. You really are an inspiration!!! Good luck to you in the future and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next!!!”
Patti Jordan
Nancy can work with you to plan the workshop to meet your specific goals. Contact her at 505-577-9712 or Nancy@RecycleRunway.com to learn more!
