The motto “reduce, recycle and reuse” continually rides the conscience of environmentally friendly artist Michael Sweere. By day, Michael works as an art director in an advertising agency, but by night he turns to his passion for the fine arts. Taking the catch phrase “thinking outside the box” literally, he uses the packaging material from various consumer goods, such as cereal boxes, as elements in his mosaics. His mosaics vary from 10 inches by 12 inches to 4 feet by 8 feet.

 

He starts each mosaic with a pencil drawing, he then switches to colored pencils or markers to visualize the color scheme. Once his preliminary ideas are on paper, he turns to his pre-sorted stack of packaging material to find different shades of color and texture.

 

Michael’s artistic inspiration came after he finished college and went on to an atelier for four years, where he received formal training under Peter Bougie, a well-known realist painter in the Midwest. “He was the one who told me to draw from sketches for further projects and to constantly reference life to be a better draftsman and designer.”

 

Medium Descriptions:

 

Tin Collages

Created from salvaged, often vintage or antique advertising tins, signage, TV trays and cans. “Stitched” together and mounted on plywood with small wire nails.

 

Paper Mosaics

Created from paper packaging of consumer items (candy, cereal, Kleenex, and soda boxes). Hand-cut pieces of paper are sorted by color, then mounted on masonite panels to create elaborate mosaics. The high gloss finish is achieved by sealing the completed artwork with an archival paper varnish.

 

Glass, Stone and Tile Mosaics

Created from salvaged, often vintage or antique glass (coffee cups, dishes and plates) reclaimed ceramic tile, glass and stone beads. Often used with mirror and stained glass accents to create a “flickering” effect as a viewer passes by.