For Ron Shelton, 2023 has been a year of opening minds – both at home and abroad – to sustainable art’s creativity and importance. On Thursday, November 16, from 5-7 pm, a sustainable art exhibition comprised of pieces created in a series of workshops held in Cleveland at the Cuyahoga County Youth Justice Center, Bolton Elementary School, and PNC Fairfax Connections and a special 2-week workshop series Shelton conducted in Takoradi and Accra Ghana, will be on display at the PNC Fairfax Connection, 8220 Carnegie Avenue. Guest speakers will include Shelton, along with Orensel Brumfield, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Cleveland’s Department of Public Works; Dr. Cathi Lehn, Sustainability Senior Manager for Circular Economy for the City of Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability; and Diyva Sridhar, Manager of Climate Resiliency and Sustainability for the Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. This event is free and open to the public.
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If you teach them, they will create…
Participants in the kickoff series of workshops earlier this year at PNC Fairfax Connection created more than 20 10×12 plastic mats from recycled plastic bags. The workshops were funded by grants from Circular Cleveland and Neighbor Up. As part of Circular Cleveland, Shelton has been named one of the city’s nine Circular Ambassadors. In that role, he is responsible for informing Greater Cleveland residents on how to keep recyclable materials out of landfills and circulate them within the community.
“Of the nine Circular Ambassadors, I think my role is the most unusual because when you think of a circular economy, you don’t think of art. You’re probably thinking about fix-it clinics, composting, and things along that line. At the November 16 event, I will speak on the differences between linear and circular economies, and how we need to create more of a circular economy today. A linear economy is based on the ‘take-make-waste’ mindset, which is the current line of thinking. But during our parents’ and grandparents’ days, our society was more of a circular economy. We didn’t throw stuff out as much.” Ron Shelton
Also, Shelton will speak about how he was deeply affected by a 1955 LIFE Magazine article that embraces the “throwaway lifestyle,” examining the seismic shift in our culture, moving towards a largely linear economy. Shelton’s shift to working with plastic began approximately five years ago as he became aware of international artists who used plastics as a medium. These artists are part of the High Art Fridays collective and represent Ghana, El Salvador, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
“They changed my direction; and shifted what I started to focus on. I conducted my own localized experiment where I didn’t throw away any plastics for 30 days. My front studio was full of plastics, and the sight literally woke me up – and it wasn’t a good feeling, but it changed my medium.”
In his attempts to expand the scope of his artwork, Shelton met with the Cleveland Clinic, which led to a tour of their plastic recycling facility. “Hopefully I’ll be able to create a partnership with Cleveland Clinic, which would give me access to their plastics, in order to create future works,” he says.
To contact the PNC Fairfax Connection for more details, please call 216-391-4677.
Born and raised in East Cleveland, Nate Paige has contributed more than 30 years to local journalism. He got his professional start at the Cleveland Call & Post and spent over 20 years at Cleveland.com. He currently handles social media for the city of Shaker Heights and writes for their quarterly magazine, Shaker Life. He also freelances for several local publications.