
Artist, educator and advocate, Calder Kamin transforms trash into beautifully crafted creatures and opportunities to inspire others to be creative and courageous about the future. Nature’s endless ability to reuse and adapt motivates her to eliminate waste and reimagine it as art.
Contact
Calderkamin[@]gmail.com

(b. Austin, TX) Calder's creative reuse art projects and public workshops have traveled to museums across the states including The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art American, The American Museum of Natural History, The Contemporary Austin, The i.d.e.a. Museum, and The Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Plastic Planet, her 2016 solo exhibition at Women & Their Work, was supported by a Mid-America Arts Alliance Artistic Innovations Grant and the subject of an episode for the PBS series Arts In Context. She was the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art’s Art Truck Artist, the first AIR at the Beach Museum of Art, and Artist-in-Residence at Breck Create, Landmark Apartments, and the DoSeum, San Antonio’s Children’s Museum, which earned Calder's second Mid-America Artistic Innovations Grant for the culminating exhibition.
Her recent and upcoming exhibitions include Ivester Contemporary, Sherry Leedy Contemporary, Presa House Gallery, The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Webster University, The Breckenridge International Festival of the Arts, The Mobile Museum of Art, and The Wolf Museum of Exploration and Innovation. The City of Austin recently commissioned Calder's first permanent public art project for Mary Moore Searight Park. She appears in the 2023 Craft in America episode PLAY on all PBS stations, and the PBS app, and on the Disney Channel for the 2019 celebration of the Little Mermaid to sharing inspirational messages about creative reuse.
From 2020-2023, Calder was a board member of Austin Creative Reuse, a non-profit that diverts community waste to artists, crafters, and educators as resources. She supports these centers wherever she travels. She was a 2024 Resident Artist at Bryn Du Mansion, The Wassaic Project, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Aquarium Gallery, Camp Stomping Ground, and Bunker Projects. Calder holds a double Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics and Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute.
Craft in America episode PLAy now streaming on pbs
The long running PBS series Craft in America episode, PLAY celebrates the power of imagination and the child in all of us. Featuring piñata artists Roberto Benavidez and Lorena Robletto, puppeteer Schroeder Cherry, artist Calder Kamin, and Noah’s Ark at the Skirball Cultural Center and the Cotsen Children’s Library. Now streaming on the PBS App. PBS broadcast premiere December 29, 2023 (check local listings).
Turning Trash into Treasure with The Disney Channel
To celebrate Earth Day and the 30th Anniversary of the Little Mermaid, I teamed up with the Disney Channel and Sydney to the Max stars, Ruth and Jackson, to inspire viewers to reuse plastic waste before it enters the ocean.
Recent Press
Craft in America (December 2023) PBS PLAY
Mya Blanchard.( July 2023) The Hippo Artist in the House
Caleb Bell. (October 2022) Glasstire More Than Rubbish: A conversation with Calder Kamin
Texas Country Reporter. (April 2022)Texas Monthly Calder Kamin’s Art Is Trashy, and That’s the Point
Art Houston Magazine Issue 14 (Spring 2022) Nothing Goes to Waste
Glasstire. (September 2021)Top Five September 23rd
Taylor Ellis. (September 2019). CBS Austin Austin After Hours
Yvonne Dutchover. (Oct, 2018). Shondaland Calder Kamin Shows Us Why Waste Is Poor Design
SA LIVE(July, 2018). KSAT ABC New 'Dream Tomorrow Today' exhibit at The DoSeum