Regeneration Through Art—an Upcycled Art Collective Show

Reimagining Waste as Artistic Inspiration

Fabric, old magazines and newspapers, scraps of wood, abandoned bits of metal—all of it can be recycled, reused, and given new life, not just in a pragmatic way, but as art.

This is the guiding principal of the group show called Regeneration Through Art at the Denman Summer Art Gallery, August 7 to 19.

The show features metal sculpture and wall hangings, collage, fabric art, and paintings by the three members of the Upcycled Art Collective: Sara Schouten, Stewart MacNutt, and Arliss Dennis. All works include materials sourced from post-consumer waste.

“We aim to inspire the community to reimagine waste as a resource, promoting sustainability through artistic expression,” the trio says in its artists’ statement. The show explores themes of regeneration, renewal, and resurrection, looking how these forces are expressed in the creation of art and in nature.

Sara Schouten, who came up with the idea for the show and invited Stewart and Arliss to join her, is exhibiting upcycled clothing, acrylic paintings on re-used canvas with frames from salvaged wood, and fabric patches incorporating quilting, embroidery, crochet, and doilies.

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“I like giving new life to an object that would otherwise be thrown away,” says Sara. “There’s plenty of waste in the world.”

But one person’s waste is another person’s inspiration and free material. “The Free Store might have 27 pairs of khaki pants that no one’s going to miss, so hey, I can recycle them to make bunting flags,” says Sara.

Sara, who many Denman Islanders will know in her role as Youth Outreach Worker for Hornby Denman Health, is primarily a self-taught artist.

“I never went to art school,” she says. In fact, she never really decided to be an artist—she just grew into it.

“My mom was a seamstress and she’d let me play in her sewing room. I remember just staring at the rainbow of colours on her thread shelf. And she did other crafts, so we had acrylic paints. I had access to lots of supplies and the ability to make a mess for a day or two on a table,” she says.

She continued to be creative throughout her teens, painting, wood burning, collaging, editing videos, and more. But she didn’t show her work to many people and didn’t think of herself as an artist. She studied social work at university and started working with youth. Meanwhile, she kept making art, and bit by bit finding the confidence to share it.

“There were a couple of people who really encouraged me. So I started making prints, and then I made a website.” She’s since done work on commission, exhibited pieces here and there, and developed a varied body of work which she drew on for the show. And she now has her own shelf of coloured thread at home—her own rainbow.

Sara’s paintings mostly depict nature—landscapes and close-ups of places she knows from around Denman island or she’s discovered on hikes. Lichens emerge from the forest floor like alien beings, a huge rising sun spreads golden rays to the edge of the canvas, a rotting stump hosts new life, and tiny succulents hang over a cliff.

The paintings are generally realistic, but subtly stylized, with deeply saturated colours and a folkloric children’s-book feel that captures the magic so many of us experience when we take the time to slow down and look closely at the natural world.

Eyes attuned to beauty can see art everywhere, she says. “For instance, I love my rocking chair. It’s interesting, and it’s pretty.” She rejects distinctions between high art and common art, or art and non-art.

“People have all these words like tacky or kitschy, by which they really mean bad, or not classy or elevated enough, but I look at what they’re referring to and often, I love it. Maybe I don’t understand it, but it shows me how someone thought and saw things in a different way and I like looking at it. Just sitting and staring at stuff is kinda great,” says Sara.

The other two members of the Upcycled Collective are also self-taught.

“Even as a kid, I would always be collecting images and putting them up on my wall,” says Arliss Dennis. “I’m inspired by life’s ups and downs, my over-active mind, struggle, happiness, pain, love, and death. My craft is always progressing with new inspiration, ideas, and experimental methods. Expect to see something you’ve never seen before, to be drawn in, intrigued, and possibly a little disturbed.”

Stewart MacNutt uses mostly repurposed metal in his sculptures and wall hangings. “I am self-taught but had instruction from friends along the way that has honed my skills. I do my art for fun; if I can sell a few pieces, bring some pleasure to some people, and make enough money for supplies, that is great.”

Regeneration Through Art: An Upcycle Art Collective Exhibit, featuring the work of Sara Schouten, Arliss Dennis, and Stewart MacNutt, takes place Thursday, August 7, to Tuesday, August 19, 2025.

Location: Denman Island Summer Art Gallery, 1061 Northwest Road, Denman Island, BC

Hours: Mon – Sat 11:00 am – 4:00 pm  / Sunday 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm.

Opening reception: Thursday, August 7, 7:00 pm.