Posted:
Wednesday, January 9, 2013 12:00 am
|
Updated: 8:31 am, Wed Jan 9, 2013.
By Michelle Post
Penelope Cake, of Cape May, once danced “Red Checked Life” in an empty storefront in New York City’s garment district.
She decorated the window and store in everything
red-and-white checked. Then she danced, “of course dressed in
red-and-white checked clothing,” she said. It was all visible to
passersby.
“It was one of those great (city) things where you don't know if what is going on is real life or art,” Cake said.
Cake,
56, moved to Cape May about a year ago after a 35-year career as an
artist and dancer in New York. She is the volunteer artist-in-residence
at VIMspirations, the new thrift shop benefitting Volunteers in Medicine
of Cape May County, at 600 Park Blvd., West Cape May.
At the
shop, Cake gives impromptu craft lessons using donated materials. She
can tell you how to make new clothing from donated apparel.
“You
can take the sleeves from one sweater, and put them on another,” she
said as an example, while teaching this reporter to make an origami gift
box from recycled holiday cards.
Her art is based on upcycling —
using materials that might be thrown away to make something of value.
She makes jewelry out of hardware and game pieces, art journals and
boxes from books, collages from varied items, and knits and crochets
using yarn made from T-shirts and plastic bags.
“My goal is to
encourage people to be creative, especially through the reuse of things
that might otherwise end up in a landfill,” she said.