Trash Art – Dr. Plastic Picker
 

Tag: Trash Art

Yes. It’s totally abstract.
I love him. To love fully is to love without restrictions. I let him go.

April 24, 2021

by drplasticpicker

The last week was such a creative time for my trash art. I was at the same time doing a lot of climate work that I know will be very impactful. At those times that I know I have a project that will move the needle on climate change, I get inspired and make the best art. The above are two trash art pieces that I’ve profiled before, but I’ve used one of those portrait/painting apps and made them more abstract. Gosh those two pieces were good. I just smile every time I think about them and the process that went into them. They are at the home of a patient family that I know well, and one parent is an FBI agent. I’m pretty sure he will find those two amusing. The two children who know possess the two pieces had big smiles on their faces. Giving them the two pieces was a big production. I was telling the four year old, “he is a ninja eco-warrior and his hands go like this to fight pollution” and then I made edward scissor-hand type chopping movements. There was a lot of laughter as the two trash art pieces went to their new home. I was reluctant to give them away, but that’s the entire point of the trash art. It’s an act of creativity and advocacy for me. The kids are now showing me some of their trashart, and they are so imaginative. I am looking forward to our Youth Arts Exhibition and what the kids come up with. If you haven’t checked it out, the entry page is on our San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air page https://sdpediatriciansforcleanair.com/youth-art-contest

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I really love him. He was broken and I fixed him.

April 22, 2021

by drplasticpicker

It’s Thursday and I’m OFF today. I’m OFF, because I’m working this Sunday. If you need a physical, I actually have a couple of PE slots open! Come on in! So I’m OFF today because we’ve tweaked the departmental schedule to reduce MD overtime yet still provide some services on the weekends. For everyone it has been different, but for me it is a fine thing. I don’t mind doing a Sunday morning clinic while the kids are in virtual Korean lessons anyway, and I have all of today to concentrate on climate work. Work-life balance and become more minimalistic for me has meant being able to care for myself and now care for the earth.

That’s the thing about being a Climate Advocate or as I tell everyone now, I’m an environmentalist. There is no day off. Every day is a climate work day. So today my to do list for Climate is

  1. Finish formatting THE JOURNAL ARTICLE in word with the citations. Finish the edits. Send to my co-author friends.
  2. Speak with UCSD School of Medicine Civic Engagement Club at lunch.
  3. Attend AAP-CA3 Committee Chair Meeting. It’s also called CAC which is confusing because Climate Actions Campaign goes by CAC too. I actually forget what CAC stands for at the AAP-CA3.
  4. Begin Coordinated our campaign for a Pediatrician for the “Hearing Committee” for the Air Pollution Control Board. This is an important more “behind the scences” position (I think). But we have an interested and very qualified candidate. I just need them to decide and let me know by today so I can coordinate our efforts.

And that is it! That is what I am going to do for the earth today. Oh, I may make more trash art. It actually helps me concentrate. I’m still keeping him for myself. I know a kid will love him, but I’m still in first puppy love with my little trash art owl.

LOL.

March 28, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I enjoy my life. Before middle school, my family did not seem to have a lot in material wealth. My father worked a lot. I don’t remember seeing him much as he was at the office building his business until 9pm most nights. At home, we lived very frugally but always seemed to have more than enough. My mother is a phenomenol home-chef so we always had nutrtious and delicious Vietnamese food, which I realize now was heavy on seafood and plants. We were in good public schools. Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs, and I had cousins to play with that lived next door. My mom took us to the library anytime we asked, so I spent a lot of time as an elementary school student at the library just reading. And that was life. Filled with family squabbles with cousins and siblings, running around like mad children in the woods behind our house and having backyard chickens before they were cool. My grandparents would have garage sales frequently where they bought things at other garage sales and then sold their stuff at a markup. I thought they were brilliant.

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How I felt yesterday after a few folks sent “helpful suggestions” to some work emails.

March 5, 2021

by drplasticpicker

Wow, 1499 things that I’ve salvaged from the landfill and redeployed into the human circulating economy of things that we use. #1499 single things that had use, that were going to be thrown away. You can always check out my Plastic Picking Totals Page that details it all https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/.

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High Priestess and two insectoid supplicants. I think I was also thinking about the insect apocolypse.

December 24, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I’m looking at yesterday’s trash art piece and I’m still blown away. This is going as a set to someone but as I look at it more there are layers and layers of meaning. When I make the trash art, I have to be in the right mindset and then it just comes. I honestly don’t know or understand what I’m making until it’s done. And then I relook at it and sometimes I get scared or awed at what my subconscious does.

This is the High Priestess and her two insectoid supplicants. They are bonded together by the wooden knitting needles which is my daughter’s which was broken and I carefully salvaged. The bodies are upcycled wine corks. I didn’t realize until I was discussing the pieces with several colleagues yesterday (I had randomly texted them the pictures of the pieces while we were discussing our institution’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout) is that I was really intriqued by each person’s eyes. Each eye is different and none of them are normal. The High Prietess has tunnel vision and is looking inward and her one eye socket is deep. The one eyed insectoid has an innocent wide eyed mouth, but sharp ends to protect the High Priestess. It also has a purple felt half heart and purple is the color of valor. Half a heart, is what we should bring to work. Then there is the insectoid supplicant with the disconjugate gaze. I now understand that this one is me. Looking looking everywhere. Scanning. Scanning with a visual field different than humans. Blunt arms ready to protect and defend the insect colony.

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He was shocking and inspired a lot of emotion in everyone.

December 22, 2020

by drplasticpicker

This is Blue Fluffy Bird. He is made from an upcycled car-wash mop that was pretty clean I found on a litter picking walk, but then also cleaned again several times by me. I could have just kept the now cleaned car-hand mop in my car, but the fluffy blue bits were speaking to me. It was just too interesting to pass up. I initially made a shirt for my daughter’s old Diego toy. But then magically by wrapping the blue fluffy polyester oil-based material around a wine-cork, and then using the safety scissor covers as the beak, I had the head of a new species of bird. It’s a plastic bird. I won’t go into the rest of the plastic bits that make up the bird, because I detailed it already on Instagram. But this bird inspired a lot of amazement and wonder, but also intense disgust in some people. It’s amazing because I cleaned it all – I know this bird is cleaner than most toys out there. But it still inspired a lot of intense emotion.

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My piece yesterday.

December 17, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I am a trash artist. I am a trash artivist. I just posted my items and almost opened an Etsy Shop LOL, but they wanted the last four digits of my social security number so I shut down Dr. Plastic Picker’s Toy Shop after 5 minutes. That was vaguely interesting! But Dr. Plastic Picker’s Toy Shop is actually open, and it’s open in my actual office. All items are FREE but only to invited guests into my office. When Etsy wanted the last 4 digits of my social security number and I know that Etsy shops are a bit of a scam, as the makers make very little, and Etsy makes a lot. I remember reading an article in the New York Times or CNN on some expose. I’m not surprised.

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Mr. Plastic Picker thinks she looks like Rosie from the Jetsons!

December 10, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Dr. Plastic Picker is under attack! Yes my blogsite is under attack by a random brute force attack outside of the US (actually it looks like France). I was very upset about this, but I did more research and talked to my brother (also voluntary web consultant). I learned that this is just a random brute force attack. The danger is that getting into our site they could infect others. But Dr. Plastic Picker when I am attacked, I WAKE UP!!! I started researching online about how to parry this attack and made some simple changes. I’ve made some changes to increase the integrity of this site. And in the end, what are you attackers from France going to gain? This site is about picking up trash and I don’t store any data. But I do have my beloved blogs I’ve written, so I’ll work in the next few weeks to back everything up. This attack made me so mad, but I guess it was meant to be because I WOKE UP EARLY TO PROTECT MY SITE and I also did more environmental work because of it.

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His dangling right nose-thread I removed.

November 28, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I am always eager to get up in the morning (its 4:44 AM, yes three 4s in a row) to write to you. This morning I got up trying not to wake Mr. Plastic Picker or irritate the 12-pound poodle fur ball that sleeps with us as well, But very little will deter me from sitting in front of the computer tapping away on my laptop. I turn on the electric hot water kettle, check on my vinegar projects (which sits on the shelf under the coffee station) and give it a quick stir, and then settle down to write. Literally this morning I woke up and thought, “what nonsense can I write about this morning?”

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Beautiful Trash Art piece by Emmy. Her mom is one of our fantastic nurses. Upcycled colorful medicine vial caps.

August 26, 2020

by drplasticpicker

This Wednesday kind of crept up on me. Since we went on a short trip to Palm Springs and returned on Monday, Tuesday seemed like Monday and Wednesday seemed like Tuesday. But the reality is that it is Wednesday. I realized that yesterday and knowing I needed to write this Hopeful Wednesday post lifted my spirits. My spirit is generally good these days, but the California Wildfires and the annoyance of the RNC nominating convention that I’m trying to actively ignore depresses my spirits a bit. But then one of our pediatric nurses sent this image to me of an upcycled trash art piece “Rainbow Fish” that she completed with her daughter. It is indeed beautiful and trash art gives me hope. Because through Trash Art, I have learned to look at the world a little bit differently.

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