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 505-577-9712505-577-9712 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!

Exhibitions

Nancy Judd has been exhibiting the Recycle Runway Collection in high traffic public locations around the United States for many years.

Exhibitions

• Fort Collins Museum of Art in Fort Collins, CO, 2017 – solo exhibition
• Farmington Museum in Farmington NM, 2016/2017 – solo exhibition
• Artesia Historical Museum/Art Center in Artesia, NM, 2016 – solo exhibition
• Santa Fe Community College in Santa Fe, NM – permanent collection
• Stamford Museum in Stamford, CT – Fall 2015 – solo exhibition
• Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI – Spring 2014 – solo exhibition
• Reading Public Museum in Reading, PA, 2013 – solo exhibition
• Bascom Visual Arts Center in Highlands, NC, 2013 – solo exhibition
• Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts in Melbourne, FL , 2013 – solo exhibition
• New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, NM, 2012 – part of juried show
• New Mexico Arts in Santa Fe, NM, 2012 – solo installation
• Millicent Rodgers Museum in Taos, NM, 2012 – part of juried show
• Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, MI, 2011 – part of juried show
• Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture – permanent collection

Airport Exhibitions

The Recycle Runway collection has appeared in four international airports reaching millions of international travelers with Nancy’s message of environmental conservation.

• 2nd Exhibition, Atlanta International Airport, Fall 2019
• Atlanta International Airport, 2011-2012
• Phoenix International Airport, 2010
• Pittsburgh International Airport, 2008-2009
• Albuquerque International Airport, 2007-2008

Installations

Nancy has also created site-specific installations using trash. Consumption was funded by New Mexico Arts, explores many aspects of the concept of waste.

Praise for Nancy’s exhibitions:

“The exhibition was imaginative and fun! Beautifully designed and executed, Nancy Judd’s artwork delightfully engaged Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport‘s traveling public and employees. Her innovative exhibition creatively used the art of fashion to cleverly convey messages to promote sustainability and recycling. Highly popular, the exhibition generated wide media interest, both local and national, and will be remembered for years to come. “Art works” to make a difference, and Nancy’s certainly does!”
Lennée Eller
Phoenix Airport Museum

It’s fun to see such innovation – in artistic expression and message – amidst the trappings of State bureaucracy. Everyone who sees it is intrigued. The Jellyfish Dress also honors women in interesting ways, which pop out in a public art piece. I like the subversive ways it turns people on to creativity. Bravo!
Carol Cooper
New Mexico Arts

About Nancy Judd

Nancy Judd

Nancy Judd is an artist, environmental advocate, and teaching artist.  For over twenty years she has been creating sculptures from discarded materials and using them to talk about how we live on the planet. Nancy installs her traveling solo exhibitions in high traffic locations such as museums and airports.

Nancy also creates site-specific public art, often in community workshops. In Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast, she was asked to create the Jellyfish Dress, a garment using plastic bags that brought attention to marine conservation issues. In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, she used inner tube tires in Tire-less Couture to showcase the City’s commitment to encourage citizens to drive less and use the new bicycle paths.

Nancy giving a TEDx talk wearing the Caution Tape Dress

Nancy uses her sculptures to capture people’s attention and inspire actions in their lives to help care for the planet. She accomplishes this through giving engaging speeches and providing creative eco-events for adults and children in conjunction with her exhibitions, public art commissions and sculpture sponsorships.

Nancy started Recycled Runway while working as the Recycling Coordinator for the City of Santa Fe and then as the Executive Director of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. In 1998 Nancy co-founded the Recycle Santa Fe Art Market & Fashion Contest, a popular arts event in the international arts destination of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Drawing upon her life-long experience as an artist, she began to create up-cycled fashions to promote this event. This led to the formation of the Recycle Runway Collection which has been exhibited internationally, and received worldwide media attention, including an article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Contact Nancy at Nancy@RecycleRunway.com or 505-577-9712505-577-9712

Resume

Public artist and environmental advocate Nancy Judd creates couture fashion sculptures made from trash. Nancy uses her engaging sculptures to stimulate conversation, action and education about how we live on the planet.

Alterations: Tailored Solutions to Climate Change. A traveling solo exhibition.

Nancy is internationally known for the following accomplishments:

• Included in the Smithsonian Museum’s permanent collection
• Traveling solo exhibitions of her sculptures to museums around the US
• Speaker at two TEDx events
• Featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal
• Site-specific public art commissions
• Commissions by Delta Air Lines, Toyota, Coca-Cola, Target and more
• Hands-on eco-events and workshops
• International media coverage
  
  

  See the “making of Pacifica” sponsored by The Nature Conservancy.

Learn about the mission behind Ms. Judd’s work in her TEDx talks!

TEDxABQ, 2011