Spartan Upcycle x Art Lab Residency: Megan Heeres is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and curated by Britta Urness, Art Lab Studio Educator. Support for this exhibition is provided by the Michigan State University Surplus Store & Recycling Center and The Graduate Hotel East Lansing.
About the Exhibition
Detroit-based artist Megan Heeres considers how we take care of our spaces and each other, both ecologically and on a personal level. With an art therapy background, she is concerned with how a community can feel a sense of belonging in spaces, including art world-centric places like galleries and museums. In her practice of papermaking, she incorporates fibers from invasive species of plants, extending the conversation about unwanted materials and their potential beyond eradication.
For the inaugural Spartan Upcycle X Art Lab Residency, Heeres will support the MSU Surplus Store & Recycling Center‘s mission to tell the story of “waste as a resource” through an installation primarily composed of raw materials received by the campus recycling center and other items from Spartan Upcycle that would otherwise end up in landfills.
About the Residency:
The Spartan Upcycle x Art Lab Residency invites a sustainability-centered Michigan artist to transform provided objects and materials from Spartan Upcycle, a creative reuse program of the MSU Surplus Store & Recycling Center, in a new exhibition. The artist is invited to use the Art Lab gallery as a working studio during an 8-week residency, and the resulting exhibition aims to challenge conventional thinking around the value of discarded items.
In addition to producing an original body of work, the artist will be an active participant in the MSU Broad and Spartan Upcycle’s education programming, including class visits, a hands-on workshop, interviews, and family events. Visitors are invited to witness the artist’s process in the gallery and interact with them during open Art Lab hours.