The Adlington Post

My name is “Varn”: my body parts came from the trash & a skip outside a garage in Wanganui. I have a fan on my head with LED’s - which makes the most amazing oscillating patterns when on. SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

. Another tin can robot....named Loata. Made from items found in the trash, on the streert, beach & charity shops.Her earrings detach & can be worn, & her antenna lights up. SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

I found this flip-flop at Raglan. It’s mounted on a piece of core-flute from a real estate sign. There's a piece of fishing line I found at Tangimoana [= "Ocean of Tears"] on the back - so the work can be hung on the wall. SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

ALL SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

I made this clock from two cans of Tui beer & a lid from a preserving jar - the essenze of NZ! SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

I found these two headless Buddha statues during the inorganic trash collection a few weeks ago. Decapitating the two Barbie dolls was a bizarre experience!! ........if only Barbie could find the Buddah within herself....... See more of my altered Barbies and recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

My tomato plant on Labour Day 2008 - almost 6 foot tall & still growing!! Over 60 flowers with five tomatoes so far. Planted in a plastic bucket I got from the trash. See more of my food adventures at www.pavlovasdog.weebly.com

Last May I spent a couple of weeks at Coromandel town touring the annual arts trail. I stayed at a beach-side campground in my van, & spent several pleasant hours beachcombing. On one walk I filled my carry-bag with these knots of plastic rope. They wash ashore from the many mussel & oyster farms out in the bay. Here I have arranged them on a picnic table in the quintessential polynesian form of a lei. SOLD  See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

\ The lady who bought my “Flip Flop Fish” assemblage commissioned an Eco-Game from me. This one is entitled “I can’t hear you” or “Communication Breakdown” - fans of ‘Get Smart’ may well recognise the episode depicted here! SOLD See more of my culture jamming and adbusting art at www.culture-jams.blogspot.com

Another readymade - I found this fantastic piece of signage by the local creek (Taiaotea = “ocean of clouds”). It has the most beautiful aged surface - the white paint has crazed revealing blue & pink beneath.

I decided that my copper fish hook was a bit boring in plain black, so I sanded off the high points then applied some verdigris chemicals. SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

I found this piece of a willow-pattern plate on the beach the other day, & have made it into a pendant with some solder & a jump-ring. What a fantastic find! See more of my trashion pieces and recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

Yesterday, in the company of several other artists I visited “Rannoch” - the home of the James Wallace Arts Trust & some of its collection in Mt Eden. The house & garden are crammed with all sorts of works by NZ artists. Of particular interest to me was the “crashed” aeroplane - it reminded me of the derelict Sunderland I used to play in as a child at Hobsonville Aerodrome, & of the haunting sights I saw in the Solomons of WWII aircraft wreckage in the jungle.

These fascinating objects have been collected on the beach here in Browns Bay. I am reading an 18th Century book on archaeology & found this description of “thunderbolts” which I feel suits my finds very well: “After close scientific examination I have concluded that they are formed by an admixture of a certain exhalation of thunder and lightning with metallic matter in dark clouds, which is coagulated by the circumfused moisture and coagulated in a mass (like flour with water) and subsequently indurated like a brick”. See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

This is one cool BBQ - am taking orders!!

Yesterday I facilitated another school holiday class at the Lakehouse (www.lakehousearts.org.nz). This time the children built marble runs from recycled cardboard & plastic. They all concentrated hard for the whole day & hopefully learned some skills. My next class will be an adult workshop on making art from recycled, found, & reclaimed materials, entitled “Let’s Talk Rubbish” in mid-November.

Every year there is a competition for artwork for the cover of the telephone book in each city in NZ. Here is my entry for Auckland. Entitled “Flip Flop Fish Family” I have tried to sum up the “feel” of Auckland - family life, beach fun, recreational fishing, our casual lifestyle (many people go barefoot or simply wear jandals), the tapa design border references the large Polynesian population, & the Chinese text (“Give Thanks for the Abundance of Heaven”) refers to the growing Asian influence here. The backing is a piece of a real-estate sign - as elsewhere there has been a greedy property scramble - which has thankfully collapsed for a while. SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

I entered this work into a major art competition here in Auckland last week - the North Shore City Art Awards 2008 -so far I have been accepted to submit the piece for the second selection round. The theme of the exhibition is “Earth, Wind & Sky”. My work is entitled “Headland” & is 36inx20in. It’s a section of a blue drum I found, cut to shape & flattened out. The blue is sky, the scratches are suggestive of land forms, & the white stripe which I have painted represents a yacht mast. SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

Yesterday I facilitated a school-holiday workshop for a group of children at the Lakehouse Community Arts Centre in Takapuna. We made several objects from recycled materials: a clock, a fridge-magnet, a key-ring, a brooch, & a robot.