The Great Art Rescue & Treasure Hunt

What if the things gathering dust in your drawers, closets, studios, and craft rooms could become someone else’s creative treasure?

The Great Art Rescue & Treasure Hunt is a one-day pop-up make-and-take experience where creativity begins with a little generosity—and a lot of curiosity.

Participants will be invited to bring one or more items from our Art Materials Wishlist (see our list below) to donate. 

Then comes the fun part: the treasure hunt!

A pop-up collection of rescued materials will be available for everyone to explore, discover, mix, match, and transform. Participants can choose materials that inspire them and create an original piece of art on the spot. No experience is necessary, and there will be no prescribed project. The invitation is simply to look at ordinary objects differently and see what they might become. Instructors and helpers will be available.

But this treasure isn't just for making.

Throughout the event, donated and rescued materials will be made available for participants to take home and use in their own creative projects—free until the supplies run out. The goal is to get useful materials out of storage, out of the waste stream, and into the hands of people who can imagine new possibilities for them.

This is an intentionally small, one-day pilot experiment in creative reuse, generosity, community participation, and joyful discovery.

The location and date are still being determined.

There is only one rule:

If you see something that inspires you, rescue it and make something new with it.

We're in the process of identifying a time/date and location to hold our experimental trash to treaure event. We're also seeking sponsors to help with the venue, tables, tents and chairs plus volunteers to help with collecting, sorting and packaging materials to give away and to be available to guide and teach attendees who are making art.

Wishlist:

Clean metal cans without sharp edges (soup or food cans, tuna or catfood cans)

Toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls

Buttons

Yarn

Scrapbook papers

Old Christmas or birthday cards

Vintage photos

Charms, beads, broken jewelry parts

Food cardboard, empty and clean

Gently used and still usable acrylic, tempera, and watercolor paints

Watercolor or Bristol papers

Canvases for painting

Gently used and still usable paintbrushes

Working scissors

Glue sticks and school glue that is still usable

Popsicle sticks

Toothpicks

Egg crates (clean) cardboard or styrofoam

Plastic lids of all sizes, colors and types

Drawing pencils still usable

Usable art erasers

Usable pencil sharpeners

Gently used/still usable markers of all types

Gently used/still usable fancy decorative napkins and tissue papers