Trash Menagerie at the Peabody Essex

Fish by David Edgar on view now at The Peabody Essex, Salem, MA

We visited one of our favorite museums today, the Peabody Essex in Salem, MA, where we saw an amazing exhibit entitled "Trash Menagerie."  Over thirty sculptures of animals, each made entirely from recycled materials.  I was so inspired.

I have always loved trash and have collected types of trash my whole life. I had a big bin of bits of wrapping paper saved from every present at each of my birthday parties as a child. I saved the fruit stickers from bananas for many, many years.  And when I left for college I left behind four big bags of paper towel and toilet paper tubes I had collected for years (my silly parents recycled them during my first semester away). And I've talked here in the past about one of my current trash collections.

So yeah, I love trash. And I love to make things from trash. This exhibit was right up my alley.

Some highlights?  Sweater dogs by Kitty Wales and wonderful fish made from brightly colored plastic bottles by David Edgar.  One of our favorite touches were the birds (of course) placed inside the taxidermy case, perched among the real stuffed birds.  You only notice them when you look a second time and realize they are artwork. There is a fish displayed the same way. 

The curator at the Peabody Essex has done a brilliant job. And one of the very best parts is that this exhibit is in the part of the museum devoted to children and families.  But the artwork is real. I would see it and it would be fantastic whether or not my kids were with me, but they were and they were just as excited as I was. The exhibits in this area of the museum change (Trash Menagerie is up through June 1), but they always real and yet always accessible to children.  We saw an amazing origami show in this space a few years ago. In my estimation the Peabody Essex far outshines any museum downtown.

You can read about the exhibit on the museum's website and learn more about the artists and their work through several very well done video interviews. But if you live nearby, visit in person. It's cool, I promise.