The “Artist You Should Know” series highlights artists before they exhibit their work somewhere awesome, it’s our way of supporting the creative community and helping to keep San Francisco a strange and wonderful place. Meet Carrie Hott, an artist you should know.

The artist in residency program at Recology (a waste and recycling center) is special.  Why?  The artists make all their work from trash.  That’s right, they have access to tons and tons of the stuff San Franciscans throw away, and they weave it into something we all should see.  Carrie Hott, an Oakland based interdisciplinary artist, did something extra incredible with her residency, she created multimedia sculptures out of discarded electronics.  Sculptures that play sound.  Recordings of whales and dolphins, a “summer night forever” white noise machine track, and a Joy Division mix-tape.  To hear them all, and check out the awesome work of Recology artists in residence Nathan Byrne & Cybele Lyle as well, hit the Reception Friday, May 19, 5-8pm or Saturday, May 20, 2017, 1-3pm.

Artist: Carrie Hott
carriehott.com

Medium(s): I work in installation, drawing, video, and performance.

Where do you do your work?
This spring I have been working at Recology in San Francisco as an artist-in-residence. This summer I’ll move back to my studio in Oakland.

What have you been working on at Recology?
Artists in the Recology program make all of their work from materials scavenged from the dump. I’ve been gathering all kinds of materials for sculpture, but my main focus and interest have been on thrown away electronics. I’ve been taking apart all kinds of consumer electronics and re-arranging them to make sculptures that will be part of a larger installation.

What kind of electronics are you working with?
Over time I became interested in devices that deliver sound in some form- a white noise machine, stereos, vcrs, dvd players, radios, baby monitors. I’ve been collecting these and taking them apart and rearranging them while preserving their ability to function, turning them inside out and creating new sculptures out of them.

Will the sculptures play sound?
Yes, they will be playing sounds also culled from the dump- cassette tapes, vhs tapes, cds, dvds, etc. I decided to create a strange chorus of different kinds of sounds that people had thrown away to play on these inside out electronic sculptures.

Any SF artists you think are outstanding right now?
There are many outstanding artists in SF, and Oakland. In particular, Cybele Lyle and Nathan Byrne, who are also working at Recology and will be in the show on May 19, 20 & 23, are fantastic artists.

More information about the Recology exhibitions coming up this weekend can be found here.