Artist Stephanie Calvert Turns Her Hoarding Mother’s Trash Into Artistic Treasure


When it comes to society’s view of hoarding, it is interestingly peculiar. On one side, most people find it both disgusting and a mental condition, linking the act to a person’s subconscious inability to let go. Yet on the other side, we find hoarding quite entertaining. As a matter of fact, there are shows dedicated to hoarders, exploring how they live followed by giving them the help they need.

Despite what side is accepted pertaining to hoarding, there can possibly be an issue we often miss. How do the children of hoarders feel living with parents that hoard? For artist Stephanie Calvert, she felt shameful when it came to her mother’s hoarding. That has now changed to pride as Calvert has taken her mother’s hoarded trash and transformed them into artistic treasure.

The project of Stephanie Calvert turning her mother’s hoarded trash into art is titled Shame to Pride in which she is transforming shame into self-acceptance. Calvert provides the reasons why she is doing this through the project’s synopsis on her official website.

“I have returned to my childhood home, an abandoned schoolhouse, to create art from the things my mother hoarded over the years and explore questions she can no longer answer in her current mental state. In transforming my experience of the space and the physical objects into art, I am transforming my relationship to my story, my perspective on who I am and where I am from.”

Needless to say, it is amazing what Stephanie Calvert has made miscellaneous items collected by her mother over the years. But as mentioned earlier, Calvert felt debilitating disdain when her mother started to hoard. She details such during an email exchange with Huffington Post.

“I didn’t know what the term ‘hoarding’ meant, much less understand the reasons why people hoard. I didn’t have the desire or the language to talk to people about it, so I internalized a lot. I felt like a freak.”

Well Stephanie Calvert doesn’t have to feel like a freak anymore because the masterpieces she made from hoarded junk are amazing. Some of the pieces include skull sculptures, a sculpture painting, and even a piece made from rolled pieces of paper. They can all be viewed in the gallery attached below.

Right now, Stephanie Calvert is currently raising funds to bring the exhibition to New York City. Her goal is to have $7,000 for packaging and shipping of pieces, gallery space rental for five days, travel, basic art supplies, and temporary storage for pieces before show, as detailed on the Indiegogo campaign.

At this moment, Stephanie Calvert is a little under $4,000 with just six more days left. Either she makes her goal or not, it is still amazing just to see what can be made with items nobody would think of using as art.

[Images via Stephanie Calvert’s Official Website]

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