Trash To Treasure Collection

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Art to Change the World (ACW) is a diverse non-profit coalition of change makers employing the arts in service of positive social change. ACW has developed a strong network of artists and art lovers. In an effort to create tangible opportunities for artists, ACW is curating a collection of art work that has a sustainability or social justice focus that is for sale in its Trash to Treasure Collection. The Trash to Treasure Collection is a portable series of artworks that uphold Sustainable and Social Justice art themes. Contact Sadie Ward for information:  sadiekward@gmail.com

Rolling  Applications  Accepted


Project Manager

Sadie Ward

Sadie Ward has been a practicing theatre artist for over a decade. As a theatre generalist, she has worked as a set design, props design, lighting designer and stage manager on dozens of St. Paul/Minneapolis based productions. Some of her scenic and prop design work at Park Square, Theatre in the Round, Theatre Unbound, Theatre Pro Rata, The Phipps, Stages Theatre Company, Lyric Arts and Minnesota Opera. In our disposable modern world, she tries to incorporate recycled and upcycled elements into her theatre designs and art work. Sadie is also the Executive Director of the Minneapolis Green Theatre Alliance. She has stage managed with the Minnesota Fringe Festival and has planned and support many live entertainment events. In 2019 Sadie created an art form by taking old bras and making portraits of influential women, referred to as Brart (bra-art). Sadie is always gathering bras, and any bras she doesn’t use, she gets to organizations that help women who can’t afford bras, get bras for free or take care of the textile recycling for bras.

Art to Change the World (ACW) is a diverse non-profit coalition of change makers employing the arts in service of positive social change. ACW has developed a strong network of artists and art lovers. In an effort to create tangible opportunities for artists, ACW is curating a collection of art work that has a sustainability or social justice focus that is for sale in its Trash to Treasure Collection. The Trash to Treasure Collection is a portable series of artworks that uphold Sustainable and Social Justice art themes. Contact Sadie Ward for information:  sadiekward@gmail.com

Rolling  Applications  Accepted

Upcoming Events

November 19th  – (Name to link within website)
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 Participating Artists

Frances Bates (She/her) is a jack of all trades with experience in art, design, and engineering. Growing up her dream was to become an inventor who made the world a better place. At a young age, creating found object art and homemade gifts was where it all started. She explored her interest in engineering by participating in as many summer camps and classes related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) as she could.

This enthusiasm for both art and engineering led her to get a BFA in Industrial Design from the University of Wisconsin – Stout. This gave her the best of both worlds as industrial design is considered the art side of engineering. While at Stout she expanded her knowledge of a variety of art forms including graphic design, sculpture, jewelry, sewing, photography, and woodworking.

Currently, Frances is a freelance artist/designer doing a bit of everything depending on what comes her way. Her art often reflects just how much she cares about helping others. She has a particular passion for issues of diversity, the world of dancing, and camping gadgetry. As a lesbian with autism, she understands how important it is to empower your community.


Barbara Rogers Bridges Founder and Director of Art to Change the World
Barbara has been an artist and a teacher/college professor for over 40 years. Her social practice sculptures have been exhibited in Maine, Miami, the Virgin Islands, Maryland, Chicago, Mexico, Spain, Canada, and throughout Minnesota.

Bridges taught K-12 art in Minnesota, Maine, and the Virgin Islands. She was voted Art Teacher of the Year twice in Minnesota.

Barbara has partnered with various Minnesota institutions such as the Minneapolis school district, the Minnesota online high school, Perpich Center for Arts Education, the Walker Art Center, the Mpls. Institute of Art, the Weisman Museum, and the Minnesota Museum of Art.  The online curriculum site and discussion group, ArtsNet Minnesota, came out of those collaborations.

Barbara received the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District Vision Award in 2023.  The District was name #1 in the United States two years in a row.

Barbara has served as a professor for twenty years at the university of Minnesota and Bemidji State University and has contributed in a variety of ways. Her appointment includes teaching Foundations of Education, Human Relations and Critical and Creative Thinking and also serving as the architect of the unique DLiTE (Distributed Learning in Teacher Education)  – a hybrid online K-8 teacher licensure partnership program and the FasTrack secondary initiative designed for previously degreed candidates who wish to teach high school. These programs were the first online teacher licensure programs in the nation.  Artist    Minneapolis, Minnesota and Zihuantanejo, Mexico   Read More


Kelly Frankenberg   ACW Assistant Director

Kelly  has jumped into every kind of art she can find whether it’s music, film, fashion, painting, sculpture, glass, woodworking, or performance. Kelly’s travels across the globe are her inspiration for her photography and painting. Her abstract work comes from memory and her influential art comes from her passion for unity and inclusivity and reform in a world of vast cultural diversity. Her spiritual art comes from meditation and channeling the subconscious and source energy.

Some classes Kelly has taught include Drawing, Watercolor, Piano, Guitar, Clarinet, Critical Thinking, and other humanities and sciences. Her educational background consists of a BFA in Illustration from MCAD and a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Orleans with studies in Ireland, Scotland, and Italy in Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction, Screenwriting, and Visual Art.

Some local clients for books, illustrations, and murals have included Minnesota’s Governor’s Residence Council, Minnesota Children’s Theater, and the Islamic Center of Minnesota. Some national clients for live performances, courtroom sketches, and 3D art have included the National Architecture Convention, Fox National News, Macy’s, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Kelly’s work has appeared in film, TV, books, newspapers, magazines, on the radio, on walls, windows, pianos, mailboxes, and electrical boxes. During the year her work is displayed in solo and group gallery shows, and is for sale at local art festivals. She is currently finishing her screenplay and feature-length film.

Www.kellyfrankenberg.com

Kellyfrankenberg@gmail.com   Artist, illustrator, writer, teacher   Minneapolis, MN


Debra Ripp  I am a native Minnesotan born in Mankato and based in the Twin Cities. I welcome you to come visit my studio in the Dow building and in the Creative Zone of St. Paul. The Dow building is on the Green Line of the Twin Cities Light Rail System~ Tobersonstudios,  2242 University Ave. W. #201B, St. Paul. MN 55114

Tobersonstudios is home to a broad range of spirited images by Debra Ripp in mixed media. Toberson is the doghead figure that you see in much of my work.  He is an original insignia character in my work, the guide to all of my imagery.

 I am Mixed Media artist which means I love to explore all possible media, anything that will make the image emerge stronger to obtain the voice it is meant to have. My favorite thing is to vacillate between media and observe how the image can transform and mature as it is manifested in different media, including 3D media.  Debra Ripp/ Tobersonstudios

Artist, Minneapolis


 Lucienne “Lucy” Schroepfer

Originally from Cambridge, MA Lucy was steeped in the arts through childhood. Originally focusing on music, she discovered fabrics and sewing 20 years ago and has never looked back.

Lucy starts each morning in her studios at 5 am. On good days, post her day job in the performing arts, she is back in the studio.

Whether experimenting with patchwork and color, creating fabric paintings, or long-arm quilting- her work typically showcases bold colors with a broad bouquet of thread and texture. Inspiration comes from places, books, and the fabric itself. Most fun for her is to witness the surprise from folks realizing, only up-close, her paintings are in fact fabric. Often framing without glass, she reminds folks her art is washable.

Lucy is a member of the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild, MN Quilters, Dakota Star Country Quilters, NEMAA, St. Paul Art Collective, and the Mpls, Textile Center. She lives and studios in Saint Paul with her husband, three teens, and mutt “Lulu”.

651-231-0984    Quiltlucy@gmail.com  www.lucequilts.com   Instagram/ Facebook- Luce Quilts