TIMES RECORD • December 29, 2021
From an abandoned glove in the woods to the canvas for a striking landscape painting, 2016 Bowdoin College graduate Mariah Reading brings a new meaning to “leave no trace.” She creates art using trash and other discarded materials to promote a message of environmental awareness. “I am a landscape painter, that’s kind of where my schooling lies, but I’m a big outdoorswoman and I love kayaking and hiking and backpacking,” she said. “So, what I do is find trash throughout my travels and then paint the landscape where the trash was found onto the item itself and then hold it up against the physical landscape and then photograph it. So, in that way, it is a painting, a photograph and kind of a sculptural object.”