Definition of Recycled Art

All work displayed must be original, at least 75% recycled/re-used, produced by the exhibitor, and the artist must be present during the entire market. Our criteria for recycled is using elements that were originally manufactured and would be thrown away or recycled, if it were not for your creativity to reformat it in a manner different from its intended original use. A good criterion is that the materials you use are considered junk, or would have ended up in the landfill or recycling center if you hadn’t rescued them for art. For our purposes, materials from nature such as rocks, sticks, leaves, bones, dirt, water, etc. are not recycled.

Art Market

The Art Market consists of 80-90 vendor booths with artists selling their original recycled art.  Booth fees range from $250 to $350.  The 2019 dates are Nov 15-17.  The applications for 2019 will be available in June.  To receive application, please join our email list on the home page.

You can see a layout of the ballroom here.

Trash Fashion & Costume Contest

Recycled fashions must be made of at least 75% recycled or reused   materials that otherwise would be thrown away or recycled. Vintage clothes & clothes made out of trash bags will not be accepted.  Complete outfits are recommended.  Only one prize per designer.  

Student Juried Art Exhibition

Calling All Student Artists!  The Student Juried Art Exhibit takes shows recycled art made by Santa Fe area pre-schoolers through high-schoolers and will be on exhibit in the main lobby of the Santa Fe Community Convention Center during the festival.   It is free to enter, but classrooms must register in the fall.

Adult Juried Art Exhibition

We're excited to have Recycled Material Artists Bill Skrips from Cerrillos leading the charge to help coordinate the adult juried art exhibit.  2019 applications will be available in the fall.  It is $25 to submit up to three entries into the exhibit.

Recycled Art Waste Exchange

Please click here if you have discarded items that you think a recycled-material artist would be interested in or if you are a recycled-material artist and you are looking for source materials for your art.  We'll work to connect donors and artists and to keep items out of the landfill.