Bonnie Stolzmann

I'm a fine artist who digs through the trash.

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For all the years my kids were in elementary school, I walked them to school in my neighborhood of Capitol Hill, Denver. Cap Hill is a very diverse neighborhood, and we are lucky to live among people with a variety of racial backgrounds, gender expressions, sexual orientations, and economic classes, including homeless people, people who have addictions, and people who have been forgotten and shamed into living in the shadows. 

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On my way home from school, I built a practice of picking up trash as a way to show my love for all my neighbors, whom I want to live in places that reflect how I feel about them, which is beautiful, cared for, and loved. But I noticed that the trash in my alleys included fast fashion, cell phones, computers, expensive cookware - things that people in other parts of the world sacrifice their health, safety, and lives to mine materials for and create.

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I decided to turn my outrage into action by scavenging for these items to donate them or make something new and beautiful out of them.