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ADORN

Cassandra Barry

"My work is handcrafted, mainly gemstone wire jewellery. I also make wire bookmarks w/ gemstones.

I pay attention to whether or not my gemstone beads are ethically sourced, I use quality wires and every piece in my work such as jump rings and connectors (except clasps) is handmade, utilizing cutting scraps in small components to discourage waste. There is a lot of fast fashion jewellery out there with unethical practices, and I hope my work can be part of the movement to veer away from wasteful, fast fashion corporations and to support local economy through handmade jewellers/crafters/artists."

Gemstone gold bracelets
light green gemstone golden ring
3 sets of golden wire hoop earrings
silver wire ring with deep red gemstone
golden wire bookmark bent in the shape of a face
matching purple gemstone earring, bracelet and necklace set
A cross stitched image of the Bruce Peninsula. (Blue sky, water and interesting rock formations), with considerable detail.

Kelly Liu – Bruce Peninsula Cross Stitch

"I created this piece of cross stitch art for my boyfriend's 20th birthday. I like to reuse old materials to create gifts, cards, and even to wrap them up!

 

For this piece specifically, I used lots of skeins from my Mom's old embroidery kits, and made a landscape of this special location. It's approximately 8 by 10 inches and I framed it with a honey wood frame, which I up-cycled from an old elementary school art project!"

Infographic: Almost 800 billion pieces of clothing are consumed every year. Buy less, buy better, reuse more, and if you must then please recycle.

Eva Chang

"This piece of wearable art was created by hand. I used mainly scraps of yarn from previous projects that I made, in an attempt to minimize waste of materials.

 

I also up-cycled an old bra by incorporating its underwire into the piece. Handmade crochet clothing is a more sustainable, high quality form of clothing, which can also be an avenue for creative expression."

Eva's crocheted bra, laid out on a white bed sheet. The underwire is croceted in a medim brown colour, while the triangle halter top is crocheted in tan, silver, white and cream.
Eva modellin her crocheted bralette with a beige silk skirt next to a window with sun coming through.

Anjali Singh 

"This dress is inspired by sustainability since it is made from a repurposed bedsheet and second hand fabric. I encourage people to take a look at what they have at home and shop sustainably to ignite their creative side!"

Anjali modelling her light blue dress (puffy sleeves down to the elbow), ties at waist and hemmed at the knee. She looks back over her shoulder.

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The front view of Anjali's dress on a manican outside in the snow.

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The side view of Anjali's dress on a manican outside in the snow.

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A front view of Anjali posing in her dress, wearing gold jewellery.

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A view of Anjali's dress from the back on a manican outside in the snow.

Aishani Leekha

A white cloth with a woman's facial features, with red lipstick, eyes closed embroidered into the cloth. VOGUE is embroidered above the face and yellow and orange flowers are embroidered under her eyes.

UNTITLED

"The fashion industry’s production cycle is rapid, like our changing world. People overlook how harmful the product’s manufacturing processes are to the environment. Thus, the embroidered flower is intertwined within the VOGUE lettering to represent the fashion industry’s impact of environmental damage. The embroidered flowers around the closed eyes of Marilyn Monroe visually represents turning a blind eye for the fashion industry’s role in environmental damage."

Infographic: During the COVID-19 pandemic, in the UK alone, illegal waste disposal has risen by 300%.

To learn about other pressing environmental issues, check out our publication of Western student essays.

A picture of the black sweater with the graphic zoomed out to include the hood.

Moe Haloftis & Jack Middleton

"This is a drawing my boyfriend made in his sketchbook. I thought it was amazing and when he told me he was throwing out an old black sweater I took it and printed his piece.

This piece is related to sustainability in the recycling of clothing.

This piece is related to sustainability in the recycling of clothing. As most people know fast fashion and the waste of materials is a very big issue for our environment and when I got the opportunity to not only help in my little way but also try a new material."

Close up of a graphic of a man in a turtle neck and a beanie smoking printed onto a black sweater. The smoke spells out the words "the void".
Alyssa modelling her poptab crocheted vest with a white hoodie and black cargo pants in front of a red brick wall.

Alysha Bauer

"This piece was inspired by various designers incorporating trash into their fashion designs as a commentary on the waste in the fashion industry."

Alyssa modelling her poptab crocheted vest with a white hoodie and black cargo pants in front of a red brick wall.

Check out her process here:

Alyssa modelling her poptab crocheted vest with a white hoodie and black cargo pants in front of a red brick wall.

"My grandma used to collect pop tabs and crochet her whole life and I thought they were such a pretty and unique embellishment to incorporate into my designs. I collected pop tabs from my family and friends over the past month and taught myself how to crochet them into my pattern pieces."

A crocheted checkered sweater. The hems are beige, the arms are checkered red, deep yellow and navy. The chest is checkered teal, pink and mint.

Miles Obilo

"This is a crocheted cardigan I made over the winter break, inspired by JW Anderson’s patchwork cardigan pattern.

Crocheting is a great way to create original clothing without having to spend a lot of money! It’s also a great form of expression and a great hobby."

model in upcycled courset top
model in upcycled courset top
model in upcycled courset top
model in upcycled courset top

Designed by Katie Butler, modelled by Grace Butler

"My work is a corset and matching mask I designed, sewed and styled. I designed the corset taking inspiration from the scraps of bandages it is made out of to have a medical/psych ward feel to it. This piece is meant to be a statement about the medicalization and surveillance of women’s bodies. The pressures to conform to the ideal body shape that promote shape wear, such as corsets, are reminiscent of the paternalism of medicine that views the female body as a site for intervention/'improvement'."

"The corset includes repurposed bandages, fabric gauze, and 'vintage' medical napkins. It is entirely recycled except for the metal accents."

Katie is this year's Public Arts Coordinator. Click here to meet the rest of the Public Arts Commission members:

Sabrina Petta

"The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, only behind oil and natural gas. The average Canadian throws away about 80 pounds of textiles each year that either end up in landfills or burned, releasing chemicals into the environment. Moreover, denim is environmentally damaging because it requires significant water usage, dye, chemicals, cotton, and labour to make. By repurposing these fabric scraps that would have otherwise been thrown away I am able to reduce the amount of textile waste created. Furthermore, the original jeans were damaged or unwearable, therefore, I did not purchase stock from a thrift which can contribute to thrift store gentrification."

"I designed and sewed the skirt and dress from denim squares/scraps I purchased from a local thrift store. The original jeans had either stains or holes. I repurposed these scraps from different people, and brought them together to make something stylish."

Close up of upcycled jean dress
Two girls wearing upcycle thrifted jean dress
Two girls wearing upcycle thrifted jean dress
Girl wearing upcycle thrifted jean dress
Mesh of upcycle clothes art piece

This piece is a statement on fast fashion and how it is unethical and unsustainable. The oceans are created out of denim to reflect on jean production being one of the worst water-wasting processes. I used mostly clothing that I don't wear on a regular basis to touch on the fact that fast fashion creates a lot of waste, and the constant buying of new clothes leaves old ones taking up space in homes and landfills.

Shelby Sammut

Dalton

Dowson

Upcycled clothing line consisting of jeans, shirts, and jacket

I grew up surrounded by creatives and entrepreneurs in Aylmer, ON, which set the foundation for my creative expression. I founded KINDYNOS in 2018 as I always had a passion for fashion design, KINDYNOS became my outlet. We use upcycled materials to make unique, one of one pieces as a way to bring new life to garments and to combat the high waste and pollution within the fashion industry. 

Reilly Knowles

"My practice is focused on enmeshing my creative output with my local ecosystem. I use sustainably gathered materials to reflect on how I interact with my habitat, and to responsibly manage my resource consumption. I’m interested in an art that is gentle in both its creation and eventual demise, an art that decays just like the organisms it’s made from the and the organism who makes it."

"Eating Colour"

"Eating Colour" features a worn-out dish cloth and dyes made from kitchen scraps, blurring the line between stain and dye, as well as art and domestic activity.

Floral upcycled cloth art piece

"A Sample of Treasures"

"A Sample of Treasures" celebrates the beauty of items found near the Thames River with a frame of cedar buds and hand-woven panels, all against a bedsheet dyed with walnuts.

Floral upcycled cloth art piece

The water used in mines is mostly contaminated with different substances and is not treated before it is discharged to the water streams. 

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