‘Trash to Treasure’ art exhibit open through January

Clark County Solid Waste and Environmental Outreach encourages residents to see trash in a new way by attending a free art gallery showing in January.

Waste Connections of Washington and Clark County Public Health present the “Trash to Treasure Artist in Residence” art exhibit. The exhibit features sculptures created by Recycled Arts Festival artist Bill Leigh from unwanted objects discarded at local transfer stations. Each piece of artwork consists of at least 75 percent recycled materials and will be available for purchase during the gallery showing in January.

Leigh focuses on crafting sculptural pieces, which he describes as geometric abstract, from recycled materials. He draws inspiration from each salvaged piece of material pulled directly from the Clark County transfer stations to craft his truly unique, one-of-a-kind art pieces.

The exhibit runs through Jan. 29, at Art At The Cave, 108 E. Evergreen Blvd., in downtown Vancouver. There are several opportunities to explore the exhibit, including:

• Visiting Art At The Cave during gallery hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday
• Attending the reception with Bill Leigh, hosted by Waste Connections of Washington, from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22. Light refreshments will be available.

The Artist in Residence pilot program was launched in summer of 2021. Leigh approached Clark County Public Health several years ago with the idea to create a program for an Artist in Residence program to craft art from trash. His artistic perspective and technical expertise have driven the program forward. Through the program, Leigh has diverted several thousand pounds of material from the landfill and repurposed it into artwork.

Leigh is a self-taught artist and a Clark County resident who has been crafting beautiful artwork for over a decade. He is passionate about recovering and extending the life of materials through his artwork. Clark County residents can also creatively reuse unwanted belongings instead of contributing to the overflow of landfills. Instead of throwing away usable materials, Public Health advocates for creative reuse and encourages the community to think outside the box to artistically repurpose once landfill-bound materials.

Visit the Trash to Treasure exhibit for inspiration to create, donate, recycle, and make use of trash. Check out recycledartsfestival.com and follow @recycledartsfestival on Facebook and Instagram for updates. Follow artist Bill Leigh on Instagram @wmleigh and learn more about his work at billleigh.com.