ReBuilding Center presents

Shed Talks: a creative reuse seminar series

where sustainability and design meet

ReBuilding Center is excited to host our new creative reuse in design series: Shed Talks. We will invite creatives across multiple disciplines to explore the importance of creative reuse in and outside of artistic practices. Be it in the fields of carpentry, architecture, urban design, interior design, or fine arts, we aim to recontextualize the way we understand waste and consumption and to inspire us all to revision the past into the world of tomorrow.

Previous shed Talk:

Join Us for an Inspiring Talk: Innovation and Sustainability in Art with Reclaimed Materials

Discover how artist Jen Fuller has spent the last 15 years transforming discarded glass and steel into provocative, site-specific works of art. In this inspiring talk at the Rebuilding Center, Jen will share the creative process behind installations like her iconic glass paper planes installation at OMSI for the Portland Winter Light Festival and the construction of her tiny house/studio —built entirely from reclaimed materials.

With the Rebuilding Center as an instrumental partner throughout Fuller's journey, this talk will explore how thinking outside the box and embracing discarded materials can lead to both artistic innovation and a more sustainable future. Attendees will also get a first-hand look at small-scale glass sculptures made from reclaimed windows and scrap steel. Don't miss this opportunity to rethink creativity, resourcefulness, and environmental impact.

Glass has an uncanny way of reflecting the transparency and vulnerability found in humanity and nature; to work successfully with it, one must follow glass where it wants to go.

- Jen Fuller

About Jen Fuller

Jen Fuller is a self-taught artist. She honed her mixed media approach to artisanship as a commercial fabricator in the 3D props departments of Adidas, Nike, and Universal Studios. Awarded an emerging artist grant from the William T Colville Foundation in 2010, Fuller built her first glass kiln, which allowed her to transform her knowledge of advanced mold making into an ongoing and boundary pushing exploration into kiln-form glass. Her work ranges from delicate pâte de verre botanicals that fit in the palm of one’s hand to expansive reclaimed glass  paper plane installations suspended from iconic historical spaces. Fuller has crafted pieces for more than 50 solo and group exhibitions around the United States over the past 15 years. Her work has been commissioned by Portland Metro Regional Government, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Ovation TV, The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Seattle Alliance for Pioneer Square, and private glass art collectors around the world.