Since the first week of winter quarter, colorful art installations have been catching the attention of students and faculty as they roam from one class to the next. But what are these art pieces, who put them up and what do they mean?

The DU Guerrilla Craft Society is a group of individuals with connections to DU; students, alumni, faculty, parents and Denver community members. The identities of the artists are anonymous and the group aims to build community and promote self-expression in public spaces in a non-traditional way.

Typical forms of street art often include graffiti or other types of vandalism which can be appropriate in certain circumstances, but often is destructive and ends up being painted over. The Guerrilla Craft Society’s (GCS) goal is to open up a public discourse about public art, many of their pieces likely having deeper meanings and aim to communicate something more profound than originally meets the eye.

One of the group’s core values is sustainability, and therefore all of the pieces they have produced have been made by donated and repurposed materials. Obviously, a large portion of these installations are made of fabric and yarn donations, but upon looking closer you will notice the use of cables, bottle caps, compact discs and more. 

The use of these types of materials in their pieces reflects the society’s intentionality and reflects their goal of turning trash to treasure. Products that make up these multi-media art pieces would otherwise be going to the trash and further contributing to climate change, but GCS has converted them to be something people can enjoy looking at. The pieces encourage their audience to reflect on their own individual waste production and how they are contributing to the prevention of climate change. 

Their installations are oriented towards areas on campus that receive the most traffic, so some of the larger pieces can be found outside of Sturm Hall, the Community Commons as well as Anderson Academic Commons. There are 15 installations in total, some much more simple and discreet, while others call for the attention of every passerby.

The society is made up of 27 members, 14 of which are students or alumni, but the group is inclusive to anyone with a connection to DU and aims to build intergenerational connections with a mutual goal.

Across campus are “Alchemy Stations” where anyone can drop off items they can no longer use in hopes they may be incorporated into any one of the GCS’s future installments. In these stations, they accept bottle caps, broken cables, fruit mesh, sunglasses, broken fidgets, or other small products like these that would otherwise go to the trash. Larger donations like jeans, fabrics, toys, etc., can also be donated by emailing elizabeth.catchings@du.edu to organize a pickup.

Throughout the next few weeks of the quarter, take time to stop and notice the intricacies and uniqueness of these installations when you pass them. And, of course, don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for any other future projects by the DU Guerrilla Craft Society.