Pittsburgh's Project SALVO Two Arts organization in Pittsburgh are starting a new project to promote art making, resource conservation and community building called SALVO an acronym for Salvage Artists Linking Venues and Opportunities. The goal of SAVLO is to foster art making with salvage materials through events and ultimately through a permanent salvage arts work and exhibition space. SALVO will be a hands-on place where people can recycle, create, and collaborate on salvage art. The long term goal is to create a permanent home for this kind of activity but the project will start with an art making event and a design charrette, and we want to get area residents involved with making it happen. They're envisioning a two-day festival of the salvage arts. The first day will include hands-on opportunities for all ages to experiment with salvage materials to create art. During the day there will be opportunities for the public to participate in hands-on interactive art projects led by local artists. This will be complemented by a working salvage arts studio where attendees can watch and interact with teams of artists working on individual and group projects to be completed during the day. The day will culminate in an exhibition of all of the days work accompanied by food, live music and performance. The second will focus on where to go next. We will host a charette focused on developing a coalition of salvage artists with an identity and outreach based out of Construction Junction. This coalition of art-minded individuals would drive the direction of future programs utilizing discarded materials. The ultimate goal is to build both a community of salvage artists and a permanent venue for working on and exhibiting work. This event would enrich the artistic flavor of the community by encouraging collaboration, dialogue, and partnerships united to raise awareness of the important role artists play in fostering a commitment to reuse materials for all facets of arts and education. It sounds like its the germination of a really interesting idea, one that will involve artists and residents using society's refuse in creative ways. Something we should be doing here in Cleveland. Can anyone say "Road Trip"? http://www.gzpgh.com

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