Artists Hannah Jickling and Reed H. Reed have used garbage collected from school grounds to inspire a new exhibit called Pinking Index at the Kelowna Art Gallery.
At first glance, it may seem odd, but it’s a natural progression for the artists. The duo is known for their work with elementary school students, creating edible art editions for their project, Big Rock Candy Mountain. Part of these projects involved working with young students to develop the candy packaging and branding for the chocolate bars, chewing gum, and soda pop that their work resulted in.
Pinking Index continues this research and informative play by incorporating the materials leftover from these previous projects.
The exhibit, which runs until May 7, 2023, showcases 12 monoprints in colourful frames and gigantic vinyl silhouettes of straws, shoelaces, popsicle sticks, pop can tabs, and various detritus that span the walls of the exhibition. The collagraph print process used to create the prints removes all graphics and branding from the collected playground contraband.
One of the prints, titled Zig Zag Zillionaires, will also travel to several Kelowna area classrooms as a limited-edition poster, serving as a starting point for projects that will extend into the classrooms of local elementary schools.
Jickling and Reed have been collaborating since 2006 and their projects take the form of public installations, social situations, and events that circulate as photographs, videos, printed matter, and artists’ multiples. They currently teach at the Yukon School of Visual Arts.
The Kelowna Art Gallery is located at 1315 Water Street in downtown Kelowna, B.C.
