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| Young artists being excited about pictures made from waste paper |
Giving waste paper a new life
As one of the founding members of Nha Cuoi, the young painter Thai Van came up with the idea of turning waste paper into paintings. The young female artist said: “Not only do we want to create an inspiring creative space, we also want to bring meaningful experiences to visitors. The idea of making a painting workshop on recycled paper was born from that”.
The diverse and attractive activity of making pictures from waste paper has existed for a long time, especially in Western countries. “In Vietnam, this idea is deployed into many different types of pictures such as paper mosaics, paper cutting pictures, and paper sculptures. However, in order to make it easy for visitors, especially children to admire and experience, I decided to choose a paper pulp picture for the workshop," said Ms. Thai Van.
In order to realize this idea, the young artist has learned how to process waste paper, mix colors as well as bind pulp to create colorful and eye-catching pictures. It is not possible to keep the status of waste paper, all recycled paper from old books, newspapers, and cardboard will be treated before creating pictures.
Nguyen Van Tien, painter, a colleague of artist Thai Van, said: "We have carefully done the paper processing so that the color of the pulp is even. First, the paper will be cut into small pieces, soaked in water, then this will be finely grinded to create a smooth, even consistency and remove the printed-ink color. After being grinded, the paper will be dried to a certain moisture content. The finished product will be mixed with acrylic color and milk glue in the right ratio.
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| The picture spreads the message of green living |
Little painters
Making recycled paper pictures requires patience and meticulousness because after mixing the gouache and milk glue, the paper mixture will become thick. At this time, the performer must use tweezers to separate and fix each part of the pulp in the right position as well as color matching to create unique pictures.
Excited to complete the picture of colorful townhouses with friends, Quynh Nhi, 11 years old (Phuoc Vinh ward), shared: “I love painting but this is my first time participating in a painting workshop with recycled paper. I was very surprised because from waste paper, old cardboard, I can create beautiful pictures. For me, these pictures are very meaningful.”
Like Quynh Nhu, this is the first time Bao Anh (10 years old) has created pictures from waste paper herself. Meticulously covering each window with paper, Bao Anh is passionate about her work. Ms. Quynh, the parent of Bao Anh, shared: “When I saw that there was an activity to make pictures from recycled paper, I immediately registered my child to participate. Not only did I do that because my child loves colors and likes drawing, I also want my child to understand and love the environment more, right from the smallest things."
Not only Bao Anh's parents, parents who let their children participate in the workshop feel meaningful and practical when they have chosen for their children this new and interesting experience activity during the summer. The painter Nguyen Van Tien said: “In addition to the main material is waste paper, we also teach the children how to find natural and environmentally-friendly materials such as branches, dry leaves, pebbles to combine with the pictures. We hope that these small activities will bring new colors and understanding to the children.”
Currently, recycling activities are becoming more and more important when environmental pollution is becoming an alarming problem. Along with clothes, household items, old furniture, recycled products or decorations all bring economic value and are associated with environmental protection. Therefore, the workshop of making pictures from recycled paper is not only a simple craft experience but also a place to send the messages of young artists to the visitors: those to inspire green living to the community.