Local Portraits

According to its website, the non-profit effort promotes sustainability in the Gainesville community.

Everyone who works at The Repurpose Project is an artist. Upcycling started out as a means for them to create art. Now, they also upcycle because of its environmental benefits. 

Microsoft Word doesn’t recognize the word upcycling. It might not appear in a dictionary either.

Yet, upcycling has recently gained mainstream popularity. It is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new products of equal or higher quality.

For instance, at The Repurpose Project warehouse, soda can pull tabs are upcycled into earrings and cassette tape is woven into evening purses.

When Myers first started woodworking, he didn’t call what he did upcycling.

Myers acquired most of his wood from working in deconstruction. He says he feels a special connection to old buildings.

“Tearing down something someone had built 100s of years before…it’s like your spirits touching,” he says.

Myers remembers recovering the wood from an old general store. He says it was beautiful, and he fell in love with wood grain and wood style.

 Back then, Myers didn’t realize the sustainable aspect of his work.

He says the old timers in the area never wasted any wood. “That’s the way it always was,” he says. “I didn’t do it to save the rain forest or anything.”

Myers continued building with reused materials until it became the only way he wished to work. Now, woodworking is only a facet of his greater passion, The Repurpose Project.

Myers wants to educate people so they will rethink what they throw away.

He hopes that as more and more recycled materials become available, more people will want to use those materials.

Artists who work at the warehouse with Myers share his passion and perspective. Christina Rohan, a University of Florida fine arts student, gets the paint for her

pieces from hazardous waste sites.

She has always made art from found objects. The sustainable aspect is just an

added perk, she says.

Rohan believes there are two different types of people. There are people who

want everything brand new, clean and just out of the package and then there are people like her.

“I like junk,” she says.

Wanda Burnette-Walker says, “If you can find that thing in life you would do for free, you’ve found your passion.”

Burnette-Walker has found her passion in creating mosaics. She is an artist with The Repurpose Project who uses recycled tiles and glass to decorate chairs, tables, lazy Susans, etc.

Using recycled materials for art projects is not news to Burnette-Walker. She says it was always cheaper to use leftover broken glass pieces from stained-glass artists than to buy new materials.

She recently upcycled a chair that was in route to the landfill. She named it Spanish Harlem because a friend said it made her feel like dancing.

The fun part about upcycling is that “you bring the object to life,” says Burnette-Walker. She had an emotional moment giving her refinished chair away at an auction.

Myers says the artists are what make The Repurpose Project different from other sustainable initiatives. “Their artwork exemplifies reuse,” he says.

The community has been very receptive of them and their work, Myers says.

One Gainesville resident, Mary Zukowski, stopped in to explore the warehouse and says it has a funky selection of things.

“I feel inspired to donate items that I dislike throwing away and feel have a purpose, but I’m hoarding in my own barn,” she says.

Aleda Goodsaid, a student at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, calls the warehouse an inspirational place.

She’s already found an old book from the 1800s that she plans to convert into a sketchbook.

Positive feedback around the project is good news for Myers. Upcycling, like recycling, has to start somewhere.

“It’s a whole new idea,” says Myers.