CSUMB artists find purpose in repurposed art

By Mark Muckenfuss

Throw two artists together and there’s no telling what can happen. Give them access to a bunch of junk, and all bets are off.

This year’s ReGen Monterey Artist in Residence exhibit at Last Chance Mercantile, the second-hand store adjacent to the Marina landfill, is an example of that. “Doll Parts: Reclaiming Glamour from the Forgotten” is as much an exploration of what can be done with repurposed materials as it is a story of friendship and collaboration. The exhibit runs through May 24.

Artists Ashley Brunetti and Melanie Gatica say their months of working together created a deep bond, motivation and powerful art. Both women are seniors at Cal State Monterey Bay, majoring in visual and public art. 

The annual residency program, established nine years ago, allows an artist or artists to create artwork using materials they can scavenge at the ReGen Monterey resource recovery facility next to the landfill. The project helps raise awareness of repurposing material that might otherwise go to the landfill.

Eric Palmer, ReGen Monterey’s senior communications coordinator, said this year’s show stands out.

“This is definitely one of the more colorful exhibits we’ve had,” Palmer said.

Gatica said that before she and Brunetti were awarded the fellowship positions for the spring semester, they only knew each other in passing. 

“Now we’re super close,” she said.

“I feel like she’s my sister,” Brunetti added with a smile. Their similar tastes in music, humor and art helped cement their bond, she said.

Collaborating led them both in new directions. 

“There were so many things,” Gatica said of the materials they were able to access at the ReGen Monterey site. “I would have been way too overwhelmed to tackle it by myself.”

Until the residency, she said, she had pretty much stuck to paint and a canvas. But Brunetti gave her ideas she was able to run with. 

“This made me think completely different about art,” she said. “It’s finding things and breaking them and putting them back together.”

One such piece is a heart-shaped frame with a painting of two skulls in the center. Roses grow out of the eye sockets of the skulls. Between the painting and the edge of the frame is a mosaic made from shards of dinner plates Gatica found and shattered. The bits not only work as part of the design, but also as a commentary on the fragility and pain of love.

A piece by Brunetti similarly calls into question standard concepts. It’s a framed painting of a little girl sitting in the kind of innocent portrait pose that harkens to traditional America. Only, this girl is a zombie, with hollow deteriorating eyes, a face of shrunken skin and lesions on her arms and legs. 

In part, Brunetti said, the work is about feminine expectations.

“We are bombarded with this idea that what you are is not enough,” she said. 

Working on the residency, she said, “has been the highlight of my whole college experience. It was like being let into a playground. Anything I found, there was a way to turn it into art.”

In addition to the wall art, the duo also created screen-printed bags and clothing – some new and some from repurposed material. All the artwork is on sale.

Associate Professor Hector Mendoza instigated the artist-in-residence program and has helped oversee it each year. Often, only one student is named to take part. 

“When we have done a pair, it’s really amazing what happens,” Mendoza said. “Ashley became kind of a mentor to Melanie, and vice versa. They did an amazing job.” 

Last Chance Mercantile is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.