Housatonic — Everyone has heard the old adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. But for artist, journalist, and performer Camilo Cárdenas, trash can also be fine art. Colombian born Cárdenas, who currently resides in Newark, Del., recently opened his exhibit “Caps for Art” at the Center for Peace Through Culture. The month-long exhibit includes Cárdenas turning bottle caps, including from soda bottles, medicine bottles, and liquor bottles, into art.
As part of the month-long residency at the center, Cárdenas will be holding workshops on how to create art through recycled materials. Cárdenas and the Center are also accepting donations of bottle caps in order to create art.
“I’m not an artist, I’m just a connector,” Cárdenas told The Berkshire Edge. “The idea is that people from around Berkshire County bring in their caps to fill the empty caps. We are living in chaos around the planet, and it’s important for people to know that it’s important to save the planet. We need to reduce, reuse, and recycle.”
Cárdenas emphasized that recycling is critical when it comes to solving pollution and climate change problems. “Making art with caps can be simple, but it also helps when it comes to a solution to the complicated problems of trash and waste,” Cárdenas said. “I want to bring to the community environmental awareness through art. I want to connect the community to things that are going on in the world.”
For more information about the Center for Peace Through Culture, located at 137 Front St. in Housatonic, visit its website. For more information about Camilo Cárdenas’s work, visit his website.
