W
hen someone first sets eyes on Mark Wiseman’s brightly colored wooden and fabric fish, he likes to watch them make the initial connection: That the curve of each fish’s body used to be armrests, and that the canvas fabric fins once stretched across an aluminum frame. From discarded beach chairs to sustainable art, Mark has captured a piece of the Outer Banks in his upcycled fish – one that stands out to an increasingly environmentally conscious audience. And it’s not just broken chairs that he uses as part of his craft. Beach tents blown over by the wind, fishing nets, rope and bottle caps have all found a place in Mark’s workshop as he creates ocean-inspired pieces from waves to steampunk-style marine life under the Salty Art Upcycling name. His versatile pieces hang in cottages all over the Outer Banks and have been shipped as far away as Australia. “If someone came to me and said paint me a picture of a mermaid or a fish, I couldn’t do it,” Mark says. “But if I can cut, hammer and screw it together, I can make something that people recognize. I just see shapes and forms in everyday junk.” According to Mark, he simply fell into Salty Art Upcycling. Five or six years ago, he and his wife, Nicole, were shopping for art and realized they couldn’t afford some of the pieces they really liked. Nicole suggested that he try his hand at creating something, and the upcycled result – a red drum – still hangs in their home today. For the body of that fish, Mark used wood from a barn that was being torn down in Manns Harbor. Flattened bottle caps and metal siding from an above-ground pool turned into scales and fins. “Everything I used was discarded,” he explains. “When I first started doing art shows, I called it junk art. Then there was this sweet old lady who said, ‘It’s not junk – you’re upcycling.’” Mark was actually in the process of tearing down an old beach chair when he first noticed the resemblance between one of the wooden armrests and the shape of a fish. He ended up throwing the chair out anyway, but when he saw another C O N T I N U E D O N PAG E 2 6
Old SSom om ethi ng Ol S A LVAG E M E E T S ST Y L E I N T H E U P C YC L E D A RT OF M A R K W I SE M A N
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