As long as Ken Fincke can remember, he has been making art out of trash.
"My granddad was a contractor up in Santa Fe, and he had this huge yard as big as this block that had junk in it," he said. "There was welders and torches and everything imaginable. I was like, 'Grandpa, can I make something?' He was like, 'Yeah, you'll cut yourself and get yelled at by your mom.'"
Today, Fincke makes crosses and sun-shaped sculptures out of cans he gets from Rainy Day Café.
Fincke will display his work this weekend in the Nob Hill Recycle Art Show at Ghost Town Trading Co. The event is held in conjunction with La Montanita Co-op's annual Earth Day celebration.
"Last year went great," artist Kenny Chavez said. "We had only 14 artists, and we've doubled that from last year already."
Chavez, who works at Ghost Town Trading Co., said the event was founded by his boss, Albert Fry. Fry had participated in Santa Fe recycle shows for years.
"Santa Fe's always done a wonderful recycle show," Chavez said. "Why not here in Albuquerque? And what a great time to do it - Earth Day. It's nice to do it with the co-op. It brings more people out and more awareness as to what people can do with garbage to create new art."
Fincke said food cans aren't his only medium.
"Whatever's in the dumpster that day," he said. "Whatever I can find."
A dog made of recycled material by Lane Patterson.
Chavez will participate in the art show, as well. He makes retablos out of scrap metal and wood.
"Screen doors come from anywhere - people's backyards," he said. "People are changing the casements to new storm windows. You can get a lot of old screen that way. Copper, I get that from Lane (Patterson). He got it over the Internet. The bailing wire comes from someone's ranch down in Lemitar, N.M. So, it's kind of all off the land."
Chavez said retablos are like remembrances of people.
"I've just sort of mixed it up and modernized it a little bit," he said. "Usually, when you hear retablo, it's related to something Catholic. Like, you might see Jesus or Mary."
Chavez also makes figurines out of bottle caps. His inspirations include characters such as Lisa Simpson and John Travolta in drag from the movie "Hairspray."
"I guess in the '40s and '50s they used to make little bottle-cap figurines that were ashtrays," he said. "Usually, they were little black people with earrings and black face that were holding a bowl. I remember seeing those. My grandma had one when I was a kid. That's what that idea derived from, and I kind of mixed it up a little bit."
Patterson has sold his art at Ghost Town Trading Co. for the past six years. It will be his second year participating in the show. He makes lampshades, lamps and figurines out of scrap metal.
"I really go for the old look of things," he said. "The patina on old surfaces, whether it's metal or wood. Some people look at junk and see junk. I look at junk and see either body parts, as in the figural pieces, or sculptural forms. I look for either form or patina, or both, in my pieces."
Though he works with metal, Patterson said he doesn't weld very much.
"Most of the pieces are either screwed together or riveted together, or bolted or, occasionally, epoxy," he said.
Patterson said he gets his materials from junk stores, thrift stores, antique shops, swap meets and flee markets throughout the Midwest.
"Six miles from where my mother lives is an old guy who has a permanent yard sale, and most of the stuff there just qualifies as junk, and it stays out so it gets a patina," he said.
Some of Patterson's lampshades are made out of old license plates.
"Those either come from auto salvages where they say, 'Here bro, take your own pliers and screwdrivers and pay us on your way out,' or I get some on eBay from states I don't go to," he said. "I don't go any farther than eastern Illinois when I travel."
One of his lamps is a male figure with the switch for a penis. For Patterson, the show will be an opportunity to show the figures that sometimes aren't displayed.
"One place won't carry the figures because they're anatomically complete," he said.
Nob Hill Recycle Art Show
Saturday and Sunday
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Ghost Town Trading Co.
111 Carlisle Blvd. N.E.
