YSAC Gallery Featured Artist - Sondy Kai

REINCARNATED: The NEW Forever Life of Plastic Trash, presented by the Yellow Springs Arts Council

Friday, November 16, 2012 (6-9pm), YS Arts Council Gallery, 111 Corry Street

Sondy Kai is the YSAC Community Gallery’s featured artist from November 16 to December 9.

Kai uses original "guerilla" crochet techniques coupled with specially crafted tools to create her "creatures" composed of post-consumer plastic trash. The result is singular, and environmentally-friendly. Join us in appreciating "green" art at her Opening Reception on Friday, November 16, 6-9pm during the Third Friday Fling in Yellow Springs. Sondy invites you to show up “PLASTICIZED” – come adorned in your favorite plastic fashions and accessories!

Kai reminisces on her artistic focus over the past few years – “At various times, I became buried in the plastic trash I collected. It's said that every American generates 102 tons of trash in their lifetime – and, I can see how that could be true. It is still unbelievable yet heartbreaking to see what ends up in the landfills. Come see what I rescued and re-purposed!”

YSAC’s Experience Saturday on December 8 (5-6:30pm) focuses on “Trash Fashion Art” with an Artist Demo led by Sondy Kai, followed by a brainstorming session for those interested in participating in a future trash fashion event. Sondy also invites you to stop by the YSAC Community Gallery from 1-4pm during Holiday Fest (December 8) to make a festive ornament using “upcycled” plastic to decorate a downtown YS tree in celebration of Holiday in the Springs.

Kai’s current body of work was inspired in 2009 when she noticed a particularly colorful chip bag with foil interior and thought, “I’ll save a few of these and make something….ya know….shiny and glitzy.” Hundreds of foil (and non-foil) bags later, she has become sequestered in plastic trash in a crazy, unplanned sort of way.

“What was once curious innocence is now a seductive traipsing into the unknown…The worst part is I can no longer drive anywhere without scoping trash, which is really worse than texting…Daily, my head swims with plastic inventory in all shades of color and weight…as well as with mental maps of where all the discarded plastic hoards are waiting by the roadside to be re-purposed…What was I thinking?”

Visit the Yellow Springs Arts Council on Facebook for more details. The YSAC Community Gallery is open from Wednesday to Sunday (1-4pm), except for the third week of each month.