Making Art Out of Trash With Marita Dingus

At Wa Na Wari's Safer Cleaning Practices workshop, volunteers can help Dingus make a new sculpture for Walk the Block while learning about hazardous cleaning products in their homes.

by Jas Keimig

On Tuesday, June 25, underneath a tall tree in the backyard of Wa Na Wari, artist Marita Dingus directed a group of volunteers in making beautiful decorative rings out of discarded plastic material.

Carefully, the group took trashed chip bags and other kinds of plastic bags, twisted them into circles, wrapped colorful wire and beads around them, and used more wire to link the rings to one another. Dingus, a Seattle-born environmental mixed-media artist and feminist whose practice consists of using thrown-away and recycled materials to make sculptures, had constructed a giant plastic cross and hung it from the tree.

Volunteers strung the finished linked rings from the cross's bars so that they swayed in the wind. Just behind it, another volunteer sliced open donated bike tires and hung them from a giant circle so that, collectively, the tires looked like the tentacles of a jellyfish. Intended for display at Wa Na Wari's Walk the Block in September, Dingus' vision was to combine the two elements into a figurative sculpture with the loops as the body and the tire tentacles as appendages. It will be similar to the one she made for the Seattle Art Fair last year and either 15 or 25 feet tall (depending on whether Wa Na Wari has access to a cherry picker.)

"I haven't figured it all out yet," said Dingus. "It's a leap of faith!"

All this work was done as part of Dingus' and Wa Na Wari's Safer Cleaning Practices workshop, funded and sponsored by King County's Hazardous Waste Management program. In an effort to raise awareness of hazardous cleaning products and promote safe practices and disposal methods to families in King County, this event featured information and discussion on how to clean and keep yourself safe. Everyone chatted and asked questions about cleaning products, all while wrapping rings.

This workshop was the third of four in the Safer Cleaning Practices series. The final one will take place on July 2, from 4 to 5 p.m., in Wa Na Wari's backyard.

For the material for the project, Dingus brought a lot of donated items like the plastic bags. At Wa Na Wari, she found a bunch of Mardi Gras and Pride bead necklaces to make the plastic rings look a little prettier. The other week, someone had dropped off a ton of wire as well. For the final workshop, Dingus intends to continue work on the legs, start the process of making the arms, and have volunteers wrap as many rings as possible. Whatever doesn't get done, she'll finish at her studio/property in Auburn.

At the event on Tuesday, many of the people who came to help out had never worked on an art project before. "There's not an artistic bone in my body," someone declared to me before asking me to take a picture of her and her handiwork to send to her coworkers. "They'll never believe it." Throughout the whole process, Dingus bounced around the volunteers, directing them to the next task and encouraging their work. The one thing they need more of? Plastic bags.

The final Safer Cleaning Practices workshop with Marita Dingus is on Tuesday, July 2, from 4 to 5 p.m. at Wa Na Wari. Volunteers are encouraged to bring recyclable materials like plastic bags and tin cans that can hold up to the elements outside. Those who come receive a $50 Amazon gift card and dinner. Get more information and RSVP on Wa Na Wari's website.

📸 Featured Image: Volunteers assist Marita Dingus in making a new sculpture for Walk the Block later this year. (Photo: Jas Keimig)