“Long After Me” at Spring Street Gallery makes art from trash

Leigh Klonsky’s first exhibition on Block Island, “Long After Me,” features two bodies of work, the Beach Trash Series and the Tree Bags Series, both addressing human consumption, waste and the natural world. The opening reception is Saturday June 29th from 5-7 pm at the Spring Street Gallery.

Klonsky first developed her work for the Beach Trash Series during the summer of 2018 as an artist-in-resident at Mazie De Mar, Kristin Baumann's salon on High Street. “The landscape here on Block Island is so strikingly beautiful. When I see trash on the beach, in the dunes, it’s very disorienting. It’s one thing to see garbage when I walk out my apartment door in Brooklyn, it’s another when I’m taking a walk at Scotch Beach.” Klonsky collected trash and embroidered the bits of plastic and metal to textiles. The collages recall the natural environment, while being constructed from man-made waste.

Klonsky will also be showing a selection from an ongoing series of photographs of plastic bags in trees. These images are of a related theme; transforming the way we see waste. The images ask the viewer, can there be beauty in a toxic object? Although Klonsky made these photographs in New York City, the images are relevant to the conversations concerning plastic waste and its impact on the island.

“Bigger systemic changes must happen to stop climate change and extinction, but sometimes it feels like the only thing you can do is one small act. Making art about trash helps me engage in the conversation around personal responsibility and the environment, helps me examine my role as a guest on the Island, and in some tiny way makes me feel like I’m doing less harm by offering some visual joy.”

Long After Me is up from June 29 through July 17.

The Spring Street Gallery is located at 105 Spring Street, open daily from 11am to 6pm.

For more information, contact:

Leigh Klonsky leighbklonsky@gmail.com 347-244-0985

Spring Street Gallery 401-466-5374