Walking into Boothbay Region Art Foundation (BRAF’s) annual Student Art Show is an assault on the senses in the best way; a wall-to-wall explosion of color from the region’s young talents. However, the average gallery-goer may not know that several exhibitions were created entirely out of recycled materials.  

Boothbay Region High School (BRHS) students in Manon Lewis’ art class got to practice the three R’s (reduce, reuse and recycle) with several projects, including assemblages, Altoid-tin shrines and refashioned secondhand books.  

“We all have a concept of what we feel is aesthetically pleasing, and (these projects) bring things we don't look at in that way into a positive light. Something that's thrown away can become beautiful,” said Lewis.  

Lewis was partly inspired by a fall course she took at Deer Island’s Haystack School of Crafts with an artist who only uses reused materials. Bringing that enthusiasm back into the classroom, Lewis set her sights on doing something similar with the high schoolers; the exact inspiration came later. 

In March, students were sorting through wooden cast-offs at Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District to create their own Louise Nevelson-inspired assemblages. Born in modern-day Ukraine, Nevelson is best known for her large monochromatic, wooden wall pieces made using found items. She also has a Maine connection as she spent most of her childhood in Rockland after her family emigrated.  

“The kids were very excited. It's just exciting to work bigger like that.”  

Part of the thrill also came from getting to use the power tools housed in shop teacher Chip Schwehm's room, and extra-strength glue.  

Careful arrangement was also the theme of the Altoid-tin shrines with their microscopic worlds of forest dwellings, ski retreats and seaside scenes.  

Even cast-offs from the Skidompha library got a second chance, with illustrated figures peeking out of their pages or, in the case of freshman Olivia Carlson's work, getting refurbished into a village of tiny fairy houses. “It was really cool. It was a fun project,” she said.  

For Lewis, this versatility of things one can do with recyclables all comes down to how each item inspires. “Sometimes the materials suggest things that you may not have even thought of before, they lead you, they act as a catalyst to creating. It's not always you inflicting yourself on the material.”