Sculpture Space, Inc., a unique Utica-based art studio, and Empire Recycling Corporation , a scrap metal enterprise in North Utica, partnered again, as they’ve done annually for decades, on April 22 – Earth Day 2026 – to open the scrap piles free of charge to local artists to scavenge for materials they can reuse and transform into sculptures to be donated to the “Earth Day Collection 2026.
The sculptures will be exhibited and sold at the annual CHAIRity auction this fall.
All proceeds will support Sculpture Space artists and artist programs, including supporting residency of artists from around the county and the world in downtown Utica.
Empire Recycling’s Dave Levitt had to think about how long the North Utica scrap metal yard has hosted the Earth Day artist scavenge.
“At least four decades,” recalled Levitt, “every year.”
“We are all in this together,” continued Levitt. “Anything we can do to support the community.”
Levitt stood with 484 Deign Principal, event volunteer, Michelle McCarrick with a sculpture they called “Lounging Lady” – mounted atop a vintage rail car – which Levitt recalled was among the first created with local scrap metal by sculptor John Von Verger and gifted to Empire Recycling.
“Back then she was part of an Earth Day Parade,” recalled Levitt, who thought it fair to say that sculpture launched the annual Earth Day art event celebrating the reuse of discarded metals to create art that serves to fund art.
Artists hunt for treasures among scrap metal ‘trash’
Artists, donning bright orange vests, plastic glasses, and hard hats resembled reality show contestants as they pushed shopping carts among basins, bins, stockpiles, “shopping” for the perfect combination of discarded scraps to bring the sculpture they envision to life.
The event was ahead of its time in embracing the now trendy terms such as “reuse” and “circularity,” a celebration of rescuing materials from junkpiles and finding a new purpose for them.
Among the artists foraging the bins and buckets of scrap in the Empire Recycling warehouse was Kelso Mayo. Originally from Oriskany, a graduate of Oriskany High School, she “went straight to Art School,” earned her Master’s in Art abroad and opened her own art gallery in England, which she curated for seven years before moving home to Utica.
Three years ago, she served as the first Artist in Residence at Sculpture Space, poised to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary hosting artists from all over the country and the world to Utica to make and create.
“I love Sculpture Space,” said Mayo, which she described as having invited her in. “It helped me find my ‘artist’s home’ back here in Utica.”
Jen Leibowitz, who earned her MFA in Studio, Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a current Sculpture Space Artist in Residence, was rummaging through a bin nearby.
Utica-based artist, Ben Garlington, joined peer sculptures in sifting through bins of scraps to transform into an “Earth Day Collection 2026” sculpture.
“Just picking through, seeing what’s in here, and if it wants to be something,” said Garlington, looking forward to his second year contributing a sculpture to the event.
Said Garlington, “It’s a lot of fun” … and of the exhibit/auction event “and always a great party!”
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Local artists shop scrap metal recycler in Utica on Earth Day
Reporting by Cara Dolan Berry, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
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