Artist Owner : Carmen Winter
CARMEN WINTER – A BIOGRAPHY
Carmen Winter, an artist from childhood, is a recycled materials artist who has created countless different works of art, crafts and apparel out of post-consumer waste, ranging from bracelets to sculptures using recycled plastics, paper, cardboard, tin, found objects and landfill materials. Her work has been exhibited throughout the country and she sells her work online at https://www.sustainablesecrets.com/store/c1/ecoartgallery and Downtown Cooley Designs 643 Main St Grand Junction CO 81501 contact Gueria Gaston guesiagaston@mac.com.
Carmen believes in living in harmony with the land. She manifests her passion, “to inspire & enhance awareness of sustainable living through art” by re-fashioning items that have been discarded by society or that come from nature . Using different techniques, she creates artistic expressions, infused with her love of color, textures, and beauty.
Born in Toledo, OH, Carmen opened her first business in Springfield Township in 1992: Back Alley Peddlers. After 3 successful years, Carmen decided it was time for new challenges. She moved and purchased an old hardware store in the South End of Toledo, on Sheriff’s sale. [The building is now the Joe Martinez Galaria and the offices of the Sofia Art and Cultural Center]
Carmen, then age 18, spent the following year in Middle America. While she traveled through Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and learned to sail thru the Caribbean, she learned, lived and taught among indigenous people in their villages. As she traveled, she learned to make jewelry and began to develop skills and increased her knowledge about the importance of living in harmony with nature.
Upon returning to Toledo, Carmen took the hardware store and repurposed it into the “One World Café”. There, she engaged others in her vision of artistically repurposing spaces and objects, while further developing her own skills of turning trash into art. But her spirit needed to move, as her vision grew.
Carmen moved west, first to Los Angeles and then on to Hawaii. During her fourteen years on the Big Island, she developed Akua Lani Farm, a sustainable farm and forest sanctuary, resting within the rare Native Hawaiian Dry Forest on the Big Island of Hawaii. Her sanctuary was a model of sustainability; she lived a green, zero-waste life, using solar power, and rainwater catchment. There, Carmen further developed her skills and capacities; creating art from what others discarded. She also created a business selling incredible hot- sauces and tasty herb mixtures, made from Native Hawaiian chili peppers and other local ingredients.
After years of living off the grid, it was time for Carmen to bring her ideas and entrepreneurial creativity back to California, where Sustainable Secrets was born: www.sustainablesecrets.com. With California’s abundant trash, Carmen now focuses on encouraging others to reclaim, recycle and use less plastic, especially in the form of single-use plastic items that quickly become garbage. Using her skills, she takes discarded plastic and creates artistic creations that call out to others to join her vision of creating a sustainable world.
Some of her current works and projects include, hosting 1PlasticLife.org to build a mobile recycling center to educate people on recycling and the importance of limiting our use of single use items. She has also teamed up with a well-known Festival waste management company to assist in reducing the landfill intake create at large events and works closely with TerraCycle, a world-renowned progressive recycling company.
CARMEN WINTER – A BIOGRAPHY
Carmen Winter, an artist from childhood, is a recycled materials artist who has created countless different works of art, crafts and apparel out of post-consumer waste, ranging from bracelets to sculptures using recycled plastics, paper, cardboard, tin, found objects and landfill materials. Her work has been exhibited throughout the country and she sells her work online at https://www.sustainablesecrets.com/store/c1/ecoartgallery and Downtown Cooley Designs 643 Main St Grand Junction CO 81501 contact Gueria Gaston guesiagaston@mac.com.
Carmen believes in living in harmony with the land. She manifests her passion, “to inspire & enhance awareness of sustainable living through art” by re-fashioning items that have been discarded by society or that come from nature . Using different techniques, she creates artistic expressions, infused with her love of color, textures, and beauty.
Born in Toledo, OH, Carmen opened her first business in Springfield Township in 1992: Back Alley Peddlers. After 3 successful years, Carmen decided it was time for new challenges. She moved and purchased an old hardware store in the South End of Toledo, on Sheriff’s sale. [The building is now the Joe Martinez Galaria and the offices of the Sofia Art and Cultural Center]
Carmen, then age 18, spent the following year in Middle America. While she traveled through Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and learned to sail thru the Caribbean, she learned, lived and taught among indigenous people in their villages. As she traveled, she learned to make jewelry and began to develop skills and increased her knowledge about the importance of living in harmony with nature.
Upon returning to Toledo, Carmen took the hardware store and repurposed it into the “One World Café”. There, she engaged others in her vision of artistically repurposing spaces and objects, while further developing her own skills of turning trash into art. But her spirit needed to move, as her vision grew.
Carmen moved west, first to Los Angeles and then on to Hawaii. During her fourteen years on the Big Island, she developed Akua Lani Farm, a sustainable farm and forest sanctuary, resting within the rare Native Hawaiian Dry Forest on the Big Island of Hawaii. Her sanctuary was a model of sustainability; she lived a green, zero-waste life, using solar power, and rainwater catchment. There, Carmen further developed her skills and capacities; creating art from what others discarded. She also created a business selling incredible hot- sauces and tasty herb mixtures, made from Native Hawaiian chili peppers and other local ingredients.
After years of living off the grid, it was time for Carmen to bring her ideas and entrepreneurial creativity back to California, where Sustainable Secrets was born: www.sustainablesecrets.com. With California’s abundant trash, Carmen now focuses on encouraging others to reclaim, recycle and use less plastic, especially in the form of single-use plastic items that quickly become garbage. Using her skills, she takes discarded plastic and creates artistic creations that call out to others to join her vision of creating a sustainable world.
Some of her current works and projects include, hosting 1PlasticLife.org to build a mobile recycling center to educate people on recycling and the importance of limiting our use of single use items. She has also teamed up with a well-known Festival waste management company to assist in reducing the landfill intake create at large events and works closely with TerraCycle, a world-renowned progressive recycling company.
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Papercrete planter boxes in the making.
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Nov. 2014 to May 2015
Southern California; worked on commissions and edible landscaping projects.
Southern California; worked on commissions and edible landscaping projects.
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June 2014 to Nov. 2014.
Summer & Fall Art Director, Event Decorator, Resident Artist and Young People Art Programmer for La Galeria de Americas, project of the Sofia Quintero Art and Cultural Center in Toledo OH.
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2014-2002 Owner Operator of Akua Lani LLC, Nature Inspired Art, Sustainable Organic Farm and Rare Native Hawaiian Forest Sanctuary. AkuaLaniArt.com
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