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From Waste to Art: Haz Waste Workshops with Sculptor Marita Dingus
Can a sculpture teach us about waste disposal? When interactive work from a prolific artist met Haz Waste education at a special place called Wa Na Wari, that is exactly what happened.
Using what’s there
Marita Dingus has a decades-long career turning waste into thought-provoking works of art. Marita’s sculptures tie into her beliefs of racial and ecological justice, and her work has been displayed all over, from the Smithsonian American Art Museum to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. If you’re travelling, you can see one of her pieces now on display at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Marita’s art, created from unwanted items like PVC pipes, shards of glass, plastic waste, and espresso pods, conveys an empowering message: People can prosper in even the direst circumstances. She makes the connection to formerly enslaved African people, callously used and “discarded” in the United States, who then found new purpose and thrived in a hostile world.
An inspired partnership
In June 2024, Seattle nonprofit Wa Na Wari partnered with the Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County to create a community workshop that teaches participants alternative ways of cleaning without relying on potentially hazardous products. Wa Na Wari is run out of a family home turned “container for Black joy” in the historically Black Central District neighborhood. It serves as an immersive community art project that aims to “create space for Black ownership, possibility, and belonging through art, historic preservation, and connection.”
At the workshop, which was supported by a grant from the Haz Waste Program, Marita asked attendees to bring materials with them that they might otherwise throw away. She set aside items that could be recycled, like cardboard. Then, with the remaining material, she made art, combining donated wire and waste to create a massive sculpture.
Together, participants learned about hazardous waste and created a memorable art piece for the neighborhood.
Memories to hold on to
Marita was touched by the response.
“One young man told me it really resonated with him that I used all of these things that would be thrown away otherwise,” she said. He told her that it recalled cultural traditions from his own home.
Today, Marita continues to use things she learned in the workshop at home, like using versatile baking soda to clean instead of “reaching for more toxic products.” She remembered bleach as a particularly hazardous chemical to avoid whenever possible. As she notes, “There’s a skull and crossbones on the bottle. That should tell you something.”
The fruitful partnership with Marita is a glowing example of how we can all learn from one another and connect over issues like environmental justice and conscientious waste practices.
Marita Dingus has a decades-long career turning waste into thought-provoking works of art. Marita’s sculptures tie into her beliefs of racial and ecological justice, and her work has been displayed all over, from the Smithsonian American Art Museum to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. If you’re travelling, you can see one of her pieces now on display at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Marita’s art, created from unwanted items like PVC pipes, shards of glass, plastic waste, and espresso pods, conveys an empowering message: People can prosper in even the direst circumstances. She makes the connection to formerly enslaved African people, callously used and “discarded” in the United States, who then found new purpose and thrived in a hostile world.
An inspired partnership
In June 2024, Seattle nonprofit Wa Na Wari partnered with the Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County to create a community workshop that teaches participants alternative ways of cleaning without relying on potentially hazardous products. Wa Na Wari is run out of a family home turned “container for Black joy” in the historically Black Central District neighborhood. It serves as an immersive community art project that aims to “create space for Black ownership, possibility, and belonging through art, historic preservation, and connection.”
At the workshop, which was supported by a grant from the Haz Waste Program, Marita asked attendees to bring materials with them that they might otherwise throw away. She set aside items that could be recycled, like cardboard. Then, with the remaining material, she made art, combining donated wire and waste to create a massive sculpture.
Together, participants learned about hazardous waste and created a memorable art piece for the neighborhood.
Memories to hold on to
Marita was touched by the response.
“One young man told me it really resonated with him that I used all of these things that would be thrown away otherwise,” she said. He told her that it recalled cultural traditions from his own home.
Today, Marita continues to use things she learned in the workshop at home, like using versatile baking soda to clean instead of “reaching for more toxic products.” She remembered bleach as a particularly hazardous chemical to avoid whenever possible. As she notes, “There’s a skull and crossbones on the bottle. That should tell you something.”
The fruitful partnership with Marita is a glowing example of how we can all learn from one another and connect over issues like environmental justice and conscientious waste practices.