Talking, and wearing, trash

So what do you do with your old grocery bags?
If you're like me you collect them in a cabinet under the sink.
Fortunately, there are some more imaginative than I.
See what they've done at Runaway Runway, a fashion show where the duds are made from trash or something like it. The outfits will be made of everything from snack food wrappers to hay bailing wire. I''m a little disappointed there's no road kill division.
There was some concern last year that not all the materials used were recycled: some just used non-traditional materials, such as dozens of paper coffee filters. Brand new. The environmentally-insulting bleached paper kind.
This year participants are being strongly encouraged to really recycle. And in this economy how can one not?
(Oh, don't be cynical and point out that parked SUV with the engine running.)
Runaway Runway struts its stuff at 701 Whaley St. Doors open at 6. Pre-catwalk entertainment will be provided by the Blythewood Percussion Ensemble and Unbound Dance and Alternacirque. The fashion show allegedly starts at 7:30. Tickets are $20 if you want to sit; $10 if you don't.
Above: Travis Teate's creation of one of his recycled outfits.

I did my own recycling recently. First I picked up a battered violin from a big cardboard box at the S.C. Philharmonic office. I had a little free time between leaving my last job and starting this site and was unencumbered with potential conflicts of interest. So I asked to take part in the Painted Violins project for which the orchestra asks artists to turn violins into visual arts objects.
Then I took it home and looked at it for a while.
Paint it? Too boring. Wrap it in old inner tubes? Might give people the wrong idea. Pound a bunch of nails into it? Kind of passive-aggressive. A walk along the Saluda River provided the answer and the materials. Here's your change to give me a review. Driftwood, sticks, wisteria bark and broken musical instruments are not my usual art materials, but it turned out better than I thought it would.
About 23 artists have taken part this year. The violins will be sold Friday night from 6 to 8 at Whit-Ash Rug Gallery on Gervais St.

That’s free, but if you’re buying make sure you have at least $250.

This is a weekend when you need a lot of money and several bodies.

Somehow the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington County is also having a fund-raiser tonight, “Color the Arts,” the same night as the Philharmonic, one of its members organizations. Tickets for that are $50, but most of the money will come in from sales of local art. That’s extra. Then the USC dance program is having a big fundraiser, $75 to $125, on Saturday.

The Runaway Runway was originally scheduled for last night (Thursday, April 24), but someone woke up in time to move it.

Who is the keeper of the calendar?

No one. But more on that later.