The country’s largest and oldest recycled art market, Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival, is dedicated to showcasing art created from discarded materials. This years’ event is being held at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, November 20-22, 2015.

This exciting weekend-long event is celebrating its 17th year in 2015 and kicks off with Friday night’s famous Trash Fashion and Costume Contest, then continues with an inspiring art market, adult and student juried art exhibits, and make and take art activities.

Each year the event attracts over 3500 art-lovers from around Santa Fe, New Mexico and the region attracted by the art deals, family friendly art making activities, gallery-worthy exhibits and perfect gifts.

Every school in Santa Fe (public and private) is invited to participate for free in the student juried art exhibits. The exhibits often correlate with a lesson plan noting the importance of recycling and reducing waste.

Artists travel from across the state and country to participate in the art market. Many artists make their living from selling recycled art. This show is an important economic development tool for artists.

More than 90 artists from New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, California, Arizona and elsewhere offer their original pieces for sale in the Art Market and display their work in the juried art exhibit. The Festival has been utilized by organizations in Colorado, Illinois, Australia, Albuquerque and Canada as a model or template for other Recycled Art Shows.

All art consists of a minimum of 75% recycled materials – everything from vintage tin cans turned into beautiful earrings to scrap metal sculptures. Artists successfully upcycle trash into treasure, combining recycling and innovation to show creative ways to save our resources, while making one of a kind art. The event demonstrates the resourcefulness of the artists and has grown into a powerful economic development tool for existing and emerging artists.

Event details