ScrapEden Series: Panhandle Bandshell

Medium: Reclaimed materials

Size: 25’H x 30’W x 20’D

Additional details: Building on what I learned making ScrapHouse (2005), in 2007 I identified three San Francisco neighborhood groups affiliated with public spaces, and recruited collaborating artists with each of them to build environmental public art pieces. The goal was to create collaborative making opportunities that allow participants to handle waste material and reconsider it.

The making process allowed for a different quality of attention to our waste. The Panhandle Bandshell was one of three public space interventions as part of the series I led at the Black Rock Arts Foundation.

Together, I, the artists and three groups produced public works of art that illustrated the messages and practices of recycling and reuse.

Each collaborative ScrapEden project served a specific microlocal community by promoting dialogue and thought about the importance of recycling, reuse, and composting and about the impact of the human practices of accumulating, treating and creating waste.

The collective effort diverted an estimated 2848.3 tons from the San Francisco landfill, 406% of my goal.

Awards: AIASF Honor Award in Urban Design, 2008

The Panhandle Bandshell is a full-scale performance stage constructed almost entirely out of reclaimed and repurposed materials. Its novel repurposing of common materials coupled with success as a sculpture and community event space make it an exemplary model for collaboration between artists, designers, environmental advocates, and community members.