The Santa Cruz Recycled Art Program (SCRAP) opened the fourth annual exhibit at the R. Blitzer Gallery on Friday December 6th and ran through December 28th displaying the work of the six SCRAP 2019 resident artists: Andrew Purchin, Angela Gleason, Janet Fine, Jody Alexander, Paige Davis and Pamela Dewey. SCRAP is a program of the Santa Cruz City Arts division of the Economic Development Department.

The work of the six artists featured themes such as housing, homelessness and "the cultural worship of consumption." There is video, photography, a tiny house, jewelry, an alchemist’s library of tar paper books.

(All photos included are courtesy of Liz Birnbaum, The Curated Feast).

The gallery was packed to capacity on Friday evening with one installation in the hallway outside. Over 50 people, many were repeat visitors from the opening, came on Sunday afternoon when the artists spoke of their vision and experience creating art from the treasures gleaned at the Resource Recovery Center( RRC). One very popular installation included a dollar store stocked with items for sale to generate “Dump Dollars” to support environmental & arts education programs.

This year the program was coordinated by former Arts Commissioner Mary Tartaro who was built a truly collaborative team spirit among the artists and between the artists and RRC staff. Current Arts Commissioner Liz Birnbaum promoted the event through lively and captivating Instagram posts.

To learn more about SCRAP and all of our public art programs visit the Santa Cruz City Arts website.