I loved talking with Reece Brice, whose mushroom sculptures turn plastic waste into something magical. Each piece is a single bottle, transformed by heat and imagination into organic, glowing forms—like a forest of mycelium breaking down the past and growing a new future. His installations, lit from within with fishing line ‘roots’ and dancing light, feel alive, almost breathing. Reece sees plastic not as trash, but as a material waiting for its next life, and his mushrooms are a poetic reminder that repair is possible—if we just learn to listen to nature’s quiet genius.

https://reecebrice-art.shopstar.co.za/

https://www.instagram.com/reecebrice.art/

https://humanities.uct.ac.za/michaelis/contacts/reece-brice

https://www.lumenocity.art/artists-alley/reece-brice

https://humanities.uct.ac.za/michaelis/articles/2024-11-05-michaelis-alumni-reece-brice-showcases-work-ucts-idm

Biophilia, book by Edward Wilson https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674074422

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist,policy expert,writer https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/

Theda Sandiford has had a treasure box since she was three years old.

These days it's a series of labeled plastic bins — but the impulse is exactly the same. In this conversation, the fiber artist and activist (whose work is now in the Guggenheim collection, no big deal) talks about salvaging marine debris on the beaches of St. Croix, deconstructing a six-inch tow rope down to individual fibers, dyeing wine corks indigo, and why cleaning ocean waste is somehow more meditative than doing laundry.

We also get into collective healing through crochet, reading neighborhood gentrification through street trash, and the 20-year paper doll project that's still in progress.

Come for the art, stay for the Depeche Mode jean jacket story.

https://thedasandiford.com/

https://www.instagram.com/misstheda/

https://thedasandifordart.com/

Contemporary African Art Fair https://www.1-54.com/

https://elanatsui.art/

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/grandmacore-aesthetic-anti-aging-fears

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/

🌊 Dive into Currents of Connection: A Tapestry of Art, Water, and Repurposed Magic! 🌊

In this episode of Salvage, we’re wrapping up our three-part series on Currents of Connection — a breathtaking 32-foot collaborative artwork by the Repurposer Collective. Each artist took a piece of the puzzle, weaving ocean current maps with photos of clouds and waves, all crafted from repurposed materials. The result? A fluid, multidisciplinary masterpiece that celebrates water as the ultimate connector.

From Michelle’s hand-stitched layers to Judie’s glow-in-the-dark thread experiments, Maureen’s plastic-sewing adventures, and Patty’s crumpled-paper mountains, every block tells a story. Hear how these artists tackled challenges, embraced limitations, and discovered new techniques — all while creating something far greater than the sum of its parts.

Tune in to hear their laughter, insights, and the sheer joy of seeing their individual visions flow together into a stunning, cohesive whole. Whether you’re an artist, an eco-warrior, or just a lover of creativity, this episode will leave you inspired — and maybe even itching to join the next collaborative project!

🎧 Listen now and ride the wave of repurposed artistry!

Michelle Sirois-Silver https://www.michellesirois-silver.com/

Judie Payne

Maureen Farmer https://www.maureenfarmerfiberart.com/

Patty Gates https://www.instagram.com/gates.patty/

Teresa Stoller https://www.instagram.com/beachdreamsstudio/

Nancy Turbitt https://nancyturbitt.com/

Mindy Kombert https://www.plasticandpearls.com/

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/

In this episode, I'm sharing a recording of a live panel event I hosted at MAPSpace gallery during Repurposer Collective's second annual exhibit.

I'm joined by two incredible artists, Anne Percoco and Cindy Pease Roe, for a conversation about their practices transforming found materials and waste into compelling works of art.

Anne shares projects ranging from a sculpture made of over a thousand water bottles on a sacred Indian river, to street trash shaped into oysters and leaves. Cindy talks about her 15 years working with marine debris — including a 14-foot great white shark installed at Cape Cod — and her nonprofit UpSculpt, which brings ocean plastic education into schools.

Facilitated by Beyond Plastics, we cover everything from storage and cleaning techniques to health precautions, the role of artists in addressing climate change, and what it really feels like to pick up trash in public. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!

https://www.cindypeaseroe.com/

https://annepercoco.carbonmade.com/

https://www.beyondplastics.org/

https://www.upsculpt.com/

https://www.rebeccasolnit.net/

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/

Currents of Connection: How Art, Water, and Community Weave a 32-Foot Tapestry of Unity

Dive into the inspiring story behind Currents of Connection—a breathtaking 32-foot collaborative tapestry created by the Repurposer Collective. In this episode of Salvage, artists share their personal journeys of transforming NASA ocean current maps and repurposed materials into a stunning, unified artwork. From the thrill of creative problem-solving to the joy of collective creation, discover how this project celebrates connection, sustainability, and the elemental power of water. Hear firsthand how each artist’s unique voice harmonizes into a powerful statement about community, creativity, and our shared planet.

Listen now and explore the beauty of art that binds us all.

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/

Please enjoy my conversation with Caledonia Curry aka Swoon. This is a warm, wide-ranging conversation Callie talks about her journey from street art and wheat-paste portraits to massive collaborative installations built from salvaged materials – including the famous floating rafts seen at the Brooklyn Museum. She shares how reuse has been central to her practice from the start, driven by environmental awareness and a love of found materials. The conversation also touches on her humanitarian work in Haiti, the tension between solo and collaborative creating, her deep connection to the ocean, and her current shift toward storytelling, puppetry, and stop-motion animation.

https://swoonstudio.org/

https://www.uncsa.edu/kenan/artist-as-leader/caledonia-curry.aspx

https://www.heliotropefoundation.org/

https://musicboxvillage.com/

TEDxBrooklyn 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5298KZuW_JE

Finding Good in Our Own Limitations, TEDxPittsburghWomen 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUjIlXmXptU

Swimming Cities of Serenissima - Empire Me https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5dwosy

https://www.faile.net/

https://swoonstudio.org/#/submergedmotherlands/

https://deitch.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Dark_Dark

https://riversofsteel.com/attractions/carrie-furnaces/

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/

What do a penny in a nightlight, a suitcase of family mending, and 500+ women named "Unknown" have in common?

Anchorage artist Amy Meissner joins the Salvage podcast to talk about turning inherited textiles into powerful art, teaching repair as self-care, and why the thing spontaneously combusting in her house was her. This conversation will make you want to dig out your mending pile immediately.

https://www.amymeissner.com/

https://www.instagram.com/amymeissnerartist

https://dairybarn.org/quilt-national-archive-history-2/

https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/

https://momentummag.com/bike-pogies-101-elevate-your-winter-bicycling-game/

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/

What happens when 24 artists say yes to a shared prompt… and trust the current? 🌊

This episode of Salvage kicks off a special multi-part series about Currents of Connection — a 32-foot collaborative artwork stitched, collaged, painted, and assembled by members of the Repurposer Collective.

We talk about:
• receiving a single block and trusting the whole
• working with limits, deadlines, and doubt
• plastic, paper, fabric, dryer sheets, and “trash” as material
• collaboration as both method and message

Every stitch feeds the wave.
Every voice matters.
Just like water itself.

🎧 Listen to Part 1 wherever you get your podcasts
📺 Full visual episode on YouTube (trust me — this one’s worth seeing)

https://www.repurposercollective.com/

https://www.repurposercollective.com/currents-of-connection

Cathy Mitchell https://www.instagram.com/old_doxie

Sharon Williams https://www.instagram.com/williamssharoneco

Ellen November http://ellennovember.com https://www.instagram.com/ellennovemberfiberart

Ana Szilagyi http://www.anaszilagyi.com/ https://www.instagram.com/anaszilagyi

Marsha Borden http://www.marshaborden.com https://www.instagram.com/marshamakes

This podcast was created by Natalya Khorover. It was produced and recorded by Natalya, as well as researched and edited by her. SALVAGE is a product of ECOLOOP.ART.

If you enjoy this show, please rate and review us wherever you’re listening—and be sure to come back for another conversation with a repurposed media artist.

Music theme by RC Guida

Visit Natalya’s website at www.artbynatalya.com

Visit Natalya’s community at www.repurposercollective.com

Visit Natalya’s workshops at https://www.ecoloop.art/