{"id":95146,"date":"2020-06-09T16:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T20:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&p=95146"},"modified":"2022-11-02T12:47:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T16:47:58","slug":"turning-our-junk-into-art","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/magazine\/articles\/2020\/turning-our-junk-into-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning Our Junk Into Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Artist Max Bard (\u201919) describes his work as \u201ccollage,\u201d and a \u201cunique, visual language that speaks directly to the complexities of the American landscape.\u201d Photo by Cydney Scott.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVisual Arts<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTurning Our Junk Into Art\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

A former park ranger creates dynamic sculptures out of trash<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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June 9, 2020<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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by Megan Woolhouse<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAX BARD<\/a> <\/strong>finds beauty in the oddest things: trash in a Boston gutter, litter from a wildlife refuge, a discarded Tide detergent bottle, or a rusted mousetrap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former park ranger for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Bard (\u201919) collects junk tossed in parks or city streets, piling it into his 2011 Ford pickup, and uses it to create massive sculptures of birds, dragons, or whatever is on his mind at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my release,\u201d he says of his work. \u201cIt\u2019s my processing of the world and how I experience it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Max Bard (\u201919) makes art with odd items. For 2019\u2019s\u00a0Coast Cancer<\/em>, he combined wood, steel, paint, and resin with buoys, a frying pan, and an old sneaker. Photo courtesy of Bard.<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bard says he isn\u2019t trying to offer evidence of an environmental dystopia. Instead, he views the natural landscape, as it is, like a painter, fascinated with the way the ocean tides buff an orange Tide jug or rust a battered oil drum in a marsh. Colors and compositions animate and uplift his artwork, he says, at a time when the world\u2019s trash problem is \u201calready heavy enough itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His artwork is finding an appreciative audience. In 2019, he received a $20,000 award from the\u00a0Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Fund for the Arts at BU<\/a>\u00a0that he is using to execute a traveling public art project. He was also named a 2019 artist-in-residence at Golden Artist Colors, Inc., a venerable paint company in upstate New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Bard\u2019s works, titled Coast Cancer<\/em>, a 10-foot arch of jagged birch and red pine, interspersed with buoys, a frying pan, and an old sneaker, is also fringed with rusted mousetraps and no-smoking signs dangling from strings. Another work, Perception Machine<\/em>, looks like an 11-foot rocket made from painted steel, shells, crabs, a guitar, skis, and lobster traps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bard describes his own work as \u201ccollage,\u201d and a \u201cunique, visual language that speaks directly to the complexities of the American landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s interested in the power of art to \u201cdo good.\u201d That means focusing less on the final product, and more on the process. The artists he admires most, he says, are those who \u201cgo places and do things for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His travels in his Ford pickup this past year led him to the Kennedy Children\u2019s Center<\/a> in Harlem, New York City, where he used a portion of his award money to host an art workshop for three-year-olds with autism. Bard brought the students a massive bird sculpture and asked them to create its wings using paints, paper, wood, and imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe kids all blossomed,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were having fun, high-fiving and smiling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He will also use the Kahn funding to visit Gary, Ind., where abandoned property and disinvestment have created \u201cthe perfect opportunity to do public sculpture,\u201d and to deposit his sculptures along the Mohawk Trail in disadvantaged parts of Western Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to make work that explores what it\u2019s like to be an American,\u201d Bard says. \u201cWhat America is really interests me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t

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This Series<\/h3>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow a Student\u2019s Sketches Inspired Zach Braff\u2019s Latest Film<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
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Also in<\/h4>\n\n\t\t\t\t

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    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFinding a Home in Electroacoustic Music<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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    May 24, 2023<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSocial Justice Music<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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    October 11, 2022<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHeading to the Playground for Some Recess Therapy<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\tSeries home<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/article>\n\n\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Megan Woolhouse MAX BARD finds beauty in the oddest things: trash in a Boston gutter, litter from a wildlife refuge, a discarded Tide detergent bottle, or a rusted mousetrap. A former park ranger for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Bard (\u201919) collects junk tossed in parks or city streets, piling it into his 2011 Ford […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6310,"featured_media":95147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[191],"magazine-article-category":[372,379],"magazine-topic":[365],"news-article-category":[],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[386],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/95146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95146"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/95146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95151,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/95146\/revisions\/95151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95146"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=95146"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=95146"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=95146"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=95146"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=95146"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=95146"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=95146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}