A commissioned art work for Science World in Vancouver, British Columbia, “WasteHouse,” by Santa Monica sculptor Joan Robey and sculptor Tom Walker, who lives in Long Beach and teaches at Otis, will be on display briefly in LaVerne on its way to Canada at a reception Saturday, May 12, from 3 to 6 pm.

The collaboration, a “house” built completely of discards and recycled materials,will be on display at R&S Production Services,
640 Arrow Highway in LaVerne.

Early on, Walker said, “The Vancouver Science World Museum, in Ken Spencer Park is a brand-new 35,000 square foot outdoor gallery focusing on educating young visitors and their families about sustainable choices available in the areas of food, energy, transportation, water conservation, waste and recycling, and housing.”

He went on to say, “Joan and I are creating ‘WasteHouse’ – a House made of household trash in the form of a Queen Anne style house… the frame of which is 10 ft long by 7 feet wide and 13 feet tall.

“We will be building it out of waste materials from ‘the average household’… plastic bottles, cans, clothing, vacuum cleaners, furniture, sporting goods etc, etc, etc… all things used and thrown away in a house – or at least our best cross-section of that that we can come up with!

“The house will be ballasted to weigh 4,500 lbs., and will be swinging from a long, long lever; kids at the other end of the lever will be able to “lift the house”.

“We have a few challenges… first, it will be in Vancouver, so the sometimes cold, wet climate is a factor – the thing needs to weather well…second, It needs to be attractive, artistic or at least interesting to look at… third, we need to cover it with materials that may degrade, and we need to find a way to get a good balance between stuff that can degrade, stuff that is stable, and ways to easily replace things that degrade too much…fourth… oh, I could go on…

“But, these challenges are at once, exciting, thrilling, scary and daunting… so we soldier forward as we do with all the projects we do, making pure magic happen as we go.”

Both Robey and Walker often work with found objects, and their works belong in the catalogue of California assemblage. They have
Both also done public art. Walker has fashioned a number of bike racks that incorporate found objects.

Photos of “Wastehouse” can be seen at

https://sites.google.com/site/tomwalked/wastehouse

LaVerne is midway between the 10 and 210, the Foothill Freeway.
If you begin to see Claremont signs, you’ve gone beyond LaVerne.