Arunas Oslapas
4522 Spring Street, Bellingham, WA 98229
(360)738-8186

Arunas.Oslapas@wwu.edu

Artist Statement
Industrial ‘raw’ materials are discarded daily around us and often in large volumes. Finding a steady source of reusable waste and creatively incorporating it into my functional art brings me great satisfaction. My mind and hands are heavily exercised as I search for new materials to reclaim and experiment with new applications and methods of fabrication. Most of my work is done 3-dimensionally and is dictated by the limitations and nature of the material.

Although the days of roaming the landfills and beachcombing the dumps are gone, the garbage continues to flow. Finding a way to intercept it, tame it, and give it new life brings me great joy.



Recycled Metal Baskets

The recycled metal baskets and receptacles are fabricated from spring steel banding which is commonly used for strapping lumber and other industrial materials. It is found virtually outside of every lumber yard, hardware store, or any business that receives palletized goods. Approximately 60% of metal banding today is currently recycled while the other 40% ends up in dumpsters. Each basket is hand woven from selected pieces of reclaimed banding guaranteeing that no two are exactly alike.

The steel banding is wildly unmanageable and the challenge of taming this sharp, spring-loaded material makes the creation of each receptacle a memorable event. Collecting the raw material is equally exhilarating as each new source is discovered.



Animals
The animal masks are an eclectic collection of found objects that celebrate new combinations of materials and form. Each mask is a careful synthesis of disparate and seemingly unrelated discards which are masterfully assembled into unified pieces. If these pieces could talk, they would each portray distinct and individual personalities.

New homes are meticulously found for orphaned objects whose useful lives are blatantly not over. The intent is to celebrate the renewal and dignity of the common object and exalt it to a higher plain and value than it once possessed. The fusion of the diverse parts collectively imbues each mask with new meaning yet there is still a historical significance in each identifiable component. One cannot help but contemplate the individual components and their previous functions yet at the same time marvel at the magical amalgamation of each composition as it goes beyond the fulfillment of the measure of its creation.



Metal Quilts
Metal quilts are personal compositions that portray untold stories through a colorful array of rusty steel. The journey begins with scrap sheet metal collected from junkyards, cut from old signs, or found the side of the road. Some pieces come blessed with color, while others are painted and left to rust. Varying shapes are cut to size, arranged a thousand times, and ultimately riveted or adhered to another metal substrate.

Some final blocks have layers of meaning whereas others simply ‘are what they are’. The observer has the right to his or her own interpretation.



Train Art

Graffiti is an ephemeral, secretive, and rebellious form of street art. Imbued with sociopolitical messages and personal significance, it reflects the current state of our culture in a blunt and succinct fashion. Expressed through the media of spray paint, markers, and homemade paraphernalia, this cultural phenomenon (whether you like it or not) has become America’s newest folk art.

This work attempts to capture the spontaneity and fleeting nature of street art yet make it accessible by creating it on an ‘urban canvas’, a piece of the metropolitan landscape. The ‘urban canvas’ provides an appropriate physical context and background for the raw art and ranges from pieces of riveted steel train cars to brightly colored street signs.

Many techniques are employed to create both the canvas and the art. Some canvas materials are simulated while others are authentic panels from buildings and industrial materials. Inspiration for the art comes from life around us, weekly trips to the train yard and playful experimentation with various rattle-can spray tips, large permanent markers, and hand-cut stencils.


Landscapes
Landscapes are one of the first scenes a child paints yet they still hold a magical familiarity and timeless comfort into adulthood. The playful colors and childish hues are painted on recycled plywood and particle board and attempt to invoke an optimistic reality or maybe the way things should look like.




Biographical Sketch

Arunas Oslapas spends most of his academic months experimenting and learning design principles with his passionate university students as they collectively attempt to understand the profession of industrial design. With an uncanny ability to never say ‘no’, he punishes himself with outside projects ranging from creative museum exhibits to carbon fiber snowshoes. Life is short, so he indulges in the mountain sports of skiing, hiking, and fly-fishing and spends each winter break with his family south of the border where they practice their Spanish and increase their tolerance for spicy food.

Arunas attended Montana State University and the University of Illinois and got some degrees. He started his career in Chicago as an architectural space planner and draftsman and has worked for a film studio, office furniture manufacturer, and has taught at Kendall College of Art & Design, Brigham Young University, and for the last 15 years at Western Washington University. Arunas, and his wife Kathryn, founded WOW design in 1987, a product design consultancy which has spread its tentacles into graphic design, exhibits, games, and an assortment of consumer products. They have also produced three little designers who have rearranged their furniture and their lives.


Art Festivals 2007
Bellevue Arts & Crafts Fair Bellevue, WA July 27 - 29 2007 www.bellevuearts.org
Park City Kimball Arts Festival Park City, UT August 4 - 5 2007 www.kimball-art.org
Sun Valley Arts & Crafts Festival Sun Valley, ID August 10 - 12 2007 www.sunvalleycenter.org
Art in the Pearl Portland, OR September 1-3 2007 www.artinthepearl.com
Boise Art in the Park
Boise, ID September 7 - 9 2007 www.boiseartmuseum.org
Tempe Festival of the Arts Tempe, AZ November 30 - December 2 2007 www.tempefestivalofthearts.com
4th Avenue Winter Street Fair Tuscon, AZ December 7-9 www.fourthavenue.org
Galleries 2007
Museum of Contemporary Craft 724 Northwest Davis Street Portland, OR www.contemporarycrafts.org
A Horse of a Different Color 60 East Broadway Jackson, WY 83001 www.jacksonholegalleries.com
Terzian Galleries 309 Main Street Park City, UT 84060 www.terziangalleries.com
San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design 550 Sutter Street San Francisco, CA 94102 www.sfmcd.com
Western Washington University - Industrial Design 516 High Street ET 204 Bellingham, WA 98225-9086 www.wwu.edu/id
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