Design Proposal - Recycling Poster

This is a proposal for an upcoming project after Christmas, based around recycling. Many people know to recycle paper, plastic and other regular household rubbish, but may not realise the extent to which many other household items can be recycled. This poster should be focused on the recycling of small electrical goods, which many people do not realise they can recycle, and instead take them to landfill which is not good for the environment.

In the first week of my project, I plan to research artists whose work focuses on the environment. I will use artists that make use of rubbish to make their art (John Dahlsen, Steve Oatway), as well as artists who draw, paint and use other more traditional forms (Michael West).

I will also make studies of damaged electrical goods using traditional media (pencil, charcoal, etc). These goods will be the goods the poster is asking people to recycle, and will form the basis of work I will do in the future.

Absolut Dahlsen by John Dahlsen - http://www.eco-artware.com/newsletter/newsletter_09_05.php

John Dahlsen is an Australian artist who makes sculptures based on flotsam found on the coastline in Australia. He has made work with plastic bags and recycled flip flops. I find his work particularly interesting because it transforms one item used for a particular purpose into a completely new item with a new purpose.

Human/Nature by Michael West - http://www.michaelwestart.com/page7.htm

Michael West makes paintings, sculptures and drawings based on the state of humans in the environment. He also makes a lot of recycled artwork, similar to John Dahlsen.

King Triffid by Steve Oatway - http://f00.inventorspot.com/images/King%20Triffid.jpg

Steve Oatway makes sculptures from waste metal, in a similar way to John Dahlsen. He is an Australian 'junk artist' (much like John Dahlsen) who's motto is "Other people's trash is my treasure".

In the next week I will focus my research on artists who design posters, and look at the ways posters are designed to inspire a response and attract attention. I will also draw some layouts and sketches of possible designs for my own poster.

Once all of my research is done, I will focus my attention on putting together my poster. I will try out different techniques and use the sketches I made to create different images I can later use on a poster. I really like the idea of using the damaged goods to form a different image that will carry my message (e.g. putting together a collection of old mobile phones to form a recycling symbol when viewed from above).

My final poster will be made using the images I have created, in a layout that I have either chosen myself or found from another artist.