The Adlington Post

After viewing an art exhibition of constructions made with Mecanno pieces, I have devised a 21st Century version : FREECANNO - an open-sourced educational toy made from found stuff. This Freecanno is an educational toy is based on the familiar Mecanno set. The kit includes a variety of plastic, wood, & metal construction components with holes drilled in them, as well as some hardware for joining pieces together - nuts & bolts, screws, & nails. Further holes can be drilled & pieces can otherwise be adapted to suit - tools will have to be obtained separately. As Picasso said: “Computers are stupid- they only give you answers”. The Freecanno concept is designed to both stimulate the imagination & to instigate processes of enquiry: “What can I make?.. how can I make it?.. how can I join these together?.. how can I cut/drill/whatever this?.. what do I need to make......?” As the Freecanno system is open-sourced, there are not more bigger, more expensive, s

A close-up of a work I made from beach trash with reflections in the window. Recycled art is fun, & when you get tired of the piece it can go straight into the recycled bin! See more of my  recycled, upcycled and environmental works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

The junk collection continues to grow! I have become more selective in my gatherings, bringing home mainly smaller items for future use, otherwise I would soon run out of space. See more of my recycled, upcycled and environmental works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

Last night I on my evening trash patrol I found these packets of bacon, still chilled in the skip behind the local supermarket. Date expired 29th September - bacon butties are on me!!

In my dumpster-diving activities I have begun to notice that some of the dumpsters are artworks in themselves...often far better contemporary artworks than some of the shite we see in the galleries in the city. Here are a couple I spotted recently....

The annual inorganic trash collection is underway in my area of Auckland. This year a sub-species of humanity is tagging perfectly good items so as to render them useless - & definitely destined for landfill - see image. I considered notifying the media of this development, but decided that this would probably encourage other morons to do the same.

Where I belong...in a dumpster!: expounding Post Modern Trash Theory to people from AK Uni - audio & video of the interview following shortly on mywebsite & Youtube channel... On Thursday 13th August I will be talking with environmental guru Tim Lynch on GreenPlanet FM 104.6: "How Joe Six-Pack Can Help Save the World"...available later on podcast from www.greenplanetfm.com

I found these guys on the web... www.computerrecycling.co.nz/e-day.html Looks good - I will approach them about an e-collection day here in Browns Bay, & see if they are interested in some artwork to promote their business...

Today I finished five robots made from biscuit, sweet, & tea tins. They all have a light as one of their arms. Four have gone to the Salvation Army Store in Browns Bay - where they are stocking some of my work. The fifth one will be part of a prize in a promotion for the SPCA Op Shop - watch this space for details.

Today I made contact with the guys from e-waste, & took some pix - here are some motherboards in a bin.

AT Queen's Birthday Weekend I spoke at a seminar ["Craft Plus"] on contemporary craft, at the Waiheke Community Art Gallery. My talk was entitled "From Barbie to Buddha, Paradise Regained - How Recycled Art Can Save the World". Other speakers included Paul Kayser from www.cleverbarsards.com & Esther Lamb from www.toggle.com The Gallery also held a recycled art exhibition - & all my works sold!!..see the red dots below. ...for the text of my talk see http://www.craftplus.blogspot.com

Today my friend Horace Williams visited & bought this clock. The face is part of an old aluminum spool from a reel-to-reel tape recorder which I found in the trash last month. See more of my clocks & recycled art at: www.martinadlington.webs.com www.martinadlington.webs.com

My front room at Glen Road is beginning to fill up with junk I have found. The walls on the south side are shown here. The Barbie Mobile is a work in progress...

Last week I found a jar of coins in a dumpster.  There are some 300 coins, the oldest a one cent piece from Ceylon dated 1925 & bearing the impression 'George V King and Emperor of India'. The other coins are from the Philippines, Fiji, Holland, British Borneo, Greece, Italy, Tonga, the Seychelles, France, Great Britain, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vanuatu, Canada, China, Panama, Hungary, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Cayman Is, Argentina, Cooks Is, & an unidentifiable Islamic country.

On Mondays & Wednesdays the shops put out their paper for recycling. The local newsagent disposes of all their unsold newspapers & magazines from the past few days. Here my neighbour [Lily] is helping me sort out glossy magazines for collage & the Eco Games I make.

These toy soldiers came out of a skip on the North Shore, Auckland. I cut the “peace” charm from the lid of a Tupperware container - lets hope it works!! See more trashion pieces on my recycled art website www.martinadlington.webs.com www.martinadlington.webs.com

I have begun to turn my front room into a showplace for my recycled artworks so that visitors can see not only finished products, but works in progress as well as ideas formulating. Currently my work is also on sale in "Buanu Satu" in K Rd in Auckland, & in "Island" in Oneroa on Waiheke Island, & of course on my website www.martinadlington.webs.com

From my collection of small tins I have made some smaller robots - these guys stand around 15cm/6in high. The fat round one is made from a good old Kiwi tomato sauce bottle! ALL SOLD See more of myrecycled & upcycled work at www.martinadlington.webs.com

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