A SCULPTURE made from 100 per cent recycled material and created to inspire sustainability within our younger generations has beaten a strong field to become this year's winner of the 2014 Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Award.
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Queanbeyan artist Sonja Kalenjuk salvaged a chair from the bin at her work to become the base of her new creation, titled "RE-chair", and then continued to develop the work over a two to three month period.
Although the sculpture is essentially a reading chair for children, Ms Kalenjuk said she hoped to draw a dual purpose from the award-winning piece.
"I'm designing a sustainablity course for children in preschool and occasional care, so it's really just a reading chair, but it's also a place to make up their own stories and use their imagination when it comes to recycling," Ms Kalenjuk said.
"It's 100 per cent recycled. I found the chair in a rubbish bin at work, the mailbox is recycled, the newspaper is recycled, even the braces are recycled.
"I make it [art] to inspire people. It's a great opportunity; I feel that rubbish is just stuff in the wrong place," she said.
"The exhibition itself has given me great confidence because I want to go on to do other exhibits. So this has been a great stepping stone. I am really grateful, it's an unreal opportunity," she said.