Submitted photo A scene of some of the crowd at a past Deja Vu Art and Fine Craft Show at The Commons in downtown Columbus.
Art often times emerges from the ordinary. What may look like an old coat or a broken dish to some can look like materials for a new project to an artist.
No one understands this mentality more than the 60 Midwestern artists coming to the annual Déjà Vu Art and Fine Craft Show. For about 20 years, this show has not only given artists an outlet to showcase their works made from recycled materials, but also a space to promote recycling.
The show will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 8 at The Commons and is free to attend.
Artists use everything from scrap pieces of wood to antique window frames to create the beautiful works on display and for sale at the art show, organizer Marilyn Brackney said. In the recently added natural and sustainable category, some artists have used natural items such as dried gourds or clay to make their art.
Other categories of art featured in the show include fiber arts, jewelry, furniture, book arts and wearable art. There’s also the assemblage category, which Brackney defines as taking junk and putting it together.
“For example, my husband makes faces out of things he finds at antique stores. Like he might take a pot lid and then some knobs and use them for (a) nose and eyes and so forth,” Brackney said. “I make three dimensional figures, animals and people out of antiques.”
Each show since 2012 has a featured artist selected, and this year’s featured artist is Columbus resident Agnes Faverjon. Hailing from France, Faverjon uses old books and paper to create mixed media collages inspired by her travels, celebrities and animals.
“I just thought her work was outstanding,” Brackney said. “She’s been in the show several times and I just thought it was time to recognize her.”
The art show originated from Brackney’s own experimentation with scraps and trash when she was an art teacher and the classes she taught at the recycling center. After class one day, she brought up the idea of putting together a professional art show with artists who make their work out of trash to former recycling educator Greg Hartwell.
He gave her $500 to get the show rolling. Their first art show was held in April with around 30 to 35 local artists. But the attendance wasn’t as good as Brackney had hoped, which she attributed to the nice weather.
“So we decided to try it again in November for America Recycles Day, and of course that was much better because people were not out working in their yards,” Brackney said. “Matter of fact, it was better because they were starting to think about Christmas and presents and so forth.”
Though the show has skipped a year due to the 2008 flood, Brackney said she is very happy the show has gone on for 20 years. It has since doubled in its artist attendance, with some of its artists now being from out of state.
“For example, this year we’re going to have besides 50 some people from Indiana, we have 15 from other states and they include Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee,” Brackney said.
Lucabe Coffee Co., one of the show’s sponsors, will be present selling coffee and treats, and the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District, another sponsor, will have a booth where visitors can put their name in for a drawing to win a chair made of recycled materials.
“They take, I don’t know whether it’s bottle caps or what, but these are melted down and they’re made into what’s called a hand chair,” Brackney said. “It looks like a person’s hand so you sit in the hand and the fingers would be against your back.”
Brackney promises anyone who comes out to the Déjà Vu Art and Fine Craft Show will be amazed with the art they see. As she puts it, there’s nothing else quite like it.
“It’s one of the best shows in the state, I think, even if it is made out of trash,” Brackney said. ”What these people do with solid waste is very amazing.”
