Tu Le
A “beehive” as a home for kids’ messages.
If one person’s trash can be another’s treasure, then one person’s recyclables can become someone else’s art. With that in mind, Tu Le founded Madison Art House last year to cultivate children’s artistic ideas through pieces created from recyclable materials.
The idea came to Le after she noticed her kids coming home from Shorewood Elementary with art made from recyclables. Her daughter began urging her not to throw all the family’s rejects into the recycling bin, but instead save some for projects.
Le wants to show that the process of making art is sometimes more important than the end result. Classes encourage “letting [kids] really be free,” she says.
Tu Le
Clothespin people made from donated materials by kids at the Ronald McDonald House.
Madison Art House is mobile; Le does pop-up workshops across the Madison area at such venues as Whole Foods, Ronald McDonald House, the Monroe Street Farmers’ Market and the Goodman Community Center.
Le would like to find a permanent location for Madison Art House. “It could be a great place for kids to do homework, some space to do art on the wall and a spot where they can be calm, be alone or collaborate on art together,” says Le, a mother of four who moved to Madison in 2010.
One of Le’s biggest supporters is Joyce Bromley, curator at Gallery 800 UBD, a venue that showcases works by Madison artists. She also wants to help Le keep fees nominal, so all kids can participate.
“Le brings out an appreciation in kids that art is everywhere,” Bromley says. “It’s in the way things are packaged. It’s in how they, as artists, will package [these] things into something else.”
Tu Le
Robots made from apple boxes, and a portrait project that includes packing foam, zip ties, nuts and bolts.
Le collects materials from local businesses. Paper from a shredder can become pom-poms, for instance. One workshop used shoeboxes and cardboard foot molds from Berkeley Running Company to create robots. Another used coffee filters and marketing cutouts from Whole Foods to make flower arrangements. She’s excited that companies support her concept.
Le first practiced sustainability as a sixth-grader in Holland, Mich., sewing doll clothes from fabric scraps and clothing bits passed on by her mother.
As a young woman, she became a fashion designer for Liz Claiborne, Garan and the Gap in New York City before returning to the Midwest for a job designing boy’s apparel at Dodgeville-based Lands’ End.
Still in the planning stages is a project called Fashion Playground, which Le is working on with Gregory St. Fort, executive director at 100State. Fashion Playground pairs a stylist or fashion design mentor with a child to create an ensemble from recyclable, reused materials in a mini-Project Runway scenario. St. Fort has staged these before in New York City. Le hopes to collaborate with area community centers and expects the event will take place this spring.
Madison Art House madisonarthouse.com, 917-519-2228
