Repurposing Waste to Create Art

An Arizona artist makes everything from clothes to sculptures from recycled materials.

When someone calls artist Nancy Judd鈥檚 clothes trashy, she takes it as a compliment.

The designer and former Santa Fe recycling coordinator makes fashion sculptures from recycled materials鈥攆rom caution tape to old Obama campaign signs鈥攖hen displays the cool attire at such high-traffic locations as an international airport or a museum. 鈥淔ashion is a nonthreatening way to engage people about environmental issues,鈥 says Judd, who started her business, , 14 years ago.

When Toyota and 探花精选 awarded her a TogetherGreen Fellowship, Judd was ecstatic. For three months, she worked with 125 sixth graders to create a superhero costume from old insulation materials made of recycled paper and other items related to saving energy.

Her aim: To teach the teens conservation lessons to bring home. 鈥淭hey are getting this other element in art class,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t makes energy efficiency [come] alive in a different context.鈥

This story ran in the July-August issue as 鈥淔ashion Model.鈥