Michelle Stitzlein

Another artist of environmental consequence is Michelle Stitzlein.  Stitzlein is an Ohio artist of particular interest because of her use of recycled materials in her work.  Stitzlein’s work is relevant to any art educator interested in environmentally conscious art, but her work is especially applicable in my situation because she is a local artist. 

Stitzlein is a graduate of Columbus College of Art & Design.  She focuses on the use of recycled materials in her work.  The main focus of her work is mixed media wall-hung sculpture.  Stitzlein creates large butterflies, some over ten feet wide, out of materials found in junk and scrap yards. 

The piece Sulphur Blue Smeck is representative of much of Stitzlein’s work.  A wide piece of metal in various states of corrosion forms the structure of the butterfly.  The piece is symmetrical and is a realistic representation of a butterfly.  The interior of the wings contain a wide assortment of materials reclaimed from junkyards.  Piano keys are evident in the lower wings.  Materials such as broken plates, wire, and rusted metal parts from multiple sources are found elsewhere in the wings.  The main body is even capped off with antennae made from the handlebars of a bicycle. 

Stitzlein’s work turns cast away junk into beautifully crafted sculptural pieces.  Stitzlein also uses her work as inspiration for young artists in Ohio as well as several other states.  Part of her career is spent as a visiting artist in schools.  Stitzlein has developed several projects using plastic bottle caps as the chief media and has written a book entitled Bottlecap, Little Bottlecap in which she describes the process of making artwork using recycled bottlecaps.  She works with mainly elementary aged students and focuses on teaching about various ways of incorporating recycled materials into artwork. The image below is a bottle cap mural that my fourth grade students made this past school year. The kids were extremely excitred to work on it and were amazed at the artwork they were able to create using recycled caps.

A local artist such as Stitzlein has the ability to energize students to be cognizant of their decisions with regard to the environment.  She is able to bring in real world uses of materials that students would ordinarily think of as trash.  Students learn that nearly every object can have a second life as part of a piece of art.  

Visit Stitzlein's website by clicking here.