5 minute read
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
When 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.
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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
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Something Old Something Old
SALVAGE MEETS STYLE IN THE UPCYCLED ART OF MARK WISEMAN
The work Mark creates as part of Salty Art Upcycling includes his signature local fish made from otherwise unusable beach chairs and a number of other durable pieces forged with discarded objects such as tent poles, license plates and aluminum pool siding.
Customers who have purchased his art scrapped beach chair on the side of Highway 12 during a daily run, he decided to carry it home on his back. even take the time to tell him where he can pick up material, and during the bulk-item pieces of license plates as fins. I have a box of junk, and when I make a fish like this, I dump everything out on the table and
“Everyone who saw me running that day thought trash pickup in the spring and fall, there’s spread it out. Eventually I’ll see something I can add to give the I was crazy,” he says with a laugh. “But I experimented with that chair and perfected it until I was able to make plenty of stuff to choose from. fish a unique character.” That might be a license plate or some metal rings of some awesome local fish.” unknown origin or another piece of artwork that was broken
Mark jokes that his neighbors still look at him a little and thrown away. A humidity gauge becomes a fish eye. An old sideways when they see him running down the street bell can be repurposed as the lure of an anglerfish. with his arms full of trash. But he ends up using all of it or recycling what he can’t use, “I keep myself surrounded with junk,” says Mark. “I have cast nets that I’ve so very little gets thrown away. collected in Manns Harbor and Wanchese that I use for jellyfish. But everything I
A body piercer on the Outer Banks for 28 years, Mark makes the drive from Kill make has something to do with the ocean and living on the coast.” Devil Hills to Manns Harbor each day to go to work at Vertigo Tattoo, and he spends He creates in his garage-based workshop or – preferably – outdoors when he can. that drive scouring the highway for discarded remnants left behind at beach accesses Local galleries including Over the Moon in Ocracoke and the SeaDragon Gallery in and cottages. Duck have started carrying Mark’s creations, and he recently shipped a beach chair
As friends and family have become familiar with his artwork, Mark has started fish to Hawaii. The customer was a former resident of Virginia who wanted a fish – a finding broken beach chairs at his house when he gets home from work, too. red drum, as it turns out – created with a hibiscus-print pattern she had seen on the Customers who have purchased his art even take the time to tell him where he can Salty Art Upcycling Facebook page. pick up material, and during the bulk-item trash pickup in the spring and fall, there’s “More and more people are becoming environmentally conscious in their plenty of stuff to choose from. everyday lives,” Mark says thoughtfully. “They’re realizing that taking something out
“I can get really creative with the beach chair fish that have weird arm rests,” Mark of the trash and turning it into art that hangs in your home can be part of that. It’s adds. “I call them steampunk fish – I’m working on one now that’s got a couple of what I love most about it.”