{"id":38084,"date":"2017-06-06T09:07:01","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T15:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=38084"},"modified":"2023-11-23T09:55:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T15:55:19","slug":"clever-octopus-utahs-first-creative-reuse-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/clever-octopus-utahs-first-creative-reuse-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Clever Octopus, Utah\u2019s First Creative Reuse Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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O<\/span>n a morning walk to the Murray post office and back along State Street I discovered a new-to-me shop in town \u2013 The Clever Octopus \u2013 a clever idea founded by two art educators. The compact store, with workshop space in back, solves several dilemmas some of us artists stew over \u2013 how to safely dispose of half-used art and craft supplies taking up valuable studio space; where to buy inexpensive miscellaneous supplies for ourselves or students; and where to take a workshop to pick up some new skills.<\/h4>\n

All of these opportunities are tentacles of The Clever Octopus. But, wait, there\u2019s more. The non-profit organization will give you a tax receipt for your donations and the satisfaction of knowing that money they make will be used to take art programs into schools.<\/h4>\n

The Clever Octopus website (www.cleveroctopus.org<\/a>\u00a0is attractive, easy to navigate, and has all the information you need about workshops and their extensive \u201cwish list\u201d for donated items. Donations come not only from individuals but also from companies with excess inventory. They\u2019ll even take your (my) old magazines!<\/h4>\n

If you have the heart and time for some volunteer work, they can use your help, too. Volunteers help sort and repackage donated supplies, tidy the store, assist art instructors, write grants, and market the organization to potential partners. There\u2019s a volunteer application on the website.<\/h4>\n
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Sheri Gibb, top, and Jen Lopez of Clever Octopus<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The website doesn\u2019t quite prepare you, however, for your first visit to the store. \u201cThink of it as an arts-and-crafts thrift store on steroids,\u201d Sherri Gibb, one of the founders, says with a laugh. Shelves and cubbyholes are neatly stuffed with paints, brushes, papers, and all sorts of other fine-art supplies, along with goggle eyes and a wild assortment of crafting items. You must see it firsthand. Your creative imagination will then assume control of your wallet and your will to leave.<\/h4>\n

Sherri Gibb was a teacher in community college and private schools where she experienced firsthand the need for resources and ideas for schoolteachers. She got acquainted with artist Jen Lopez at work and through taking classes together at the university. \u201cWe each had an idea of what was missing in the arts community,\u201d explains Gibb. \u201cI had a vision of a mobile art studio to take wherever there was a need.\u201d Some individuals and teachers simply didn\u2019t have the resources to go somewhere to take a class, she reasoned.<\/h4>\n

Meanwhile, Lopez had participated in a \u201cScrap Exchange\u201d in Durham, North Carolina, a creative reuse center that had been in operation for more than 25 years. She thought something similar might work in Salt Lake City. \u201cWe both wanted to work with people who don\u2019t have financial means and others who have lots of leftovers,\u201d says Gibb. They thought their two visions could work well together.<\/h4>\n

First they started looking for a vehicle that would work as a mobile art studio. They found one in Moab, and on the four-and-a-half-hour drive down to pick it up, they decided on the name of the business and sketched out a business plan. Two months after they returned they had a business license and got to work.<\/h4>\n

Last August their new business received approval to operate as a 501c(3). That\u2019s when they quietly began soliciting donated \u201cscraps\u201d of arts-and-craft supplies. Within nine months, they had filled three 10\u00d720-foot storage units with more than 16,000 pounds of materials.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWe started looking for a [storefront] facility last fall and, in January, we found our new place on State Street in Murray. On April 1, we opened the first creative reuse center in Utah,\u201d says Gibb.<\/h4>\n

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Fill a box with your own leftovers and pay a visit to the\u00a0Clever Octopus<\/a>\u00a0at 4973 S. State St. It\u2019s open 11 a.m. \u2013 6 p.m. Tuesday \u2013 Friday, and 10 a.m. \u2013 5 p.m. on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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On a morning walk to the Murray post office and back along State Street I discovered a new-to-me shop in town \u2013 The Clever Octopus \u2013 a clever idea founded by two art educators. The compact store, with workshop space in back, solves several dilemmas some of us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":940,"featured_media":38085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-organization_spotlight","category-visual_arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/cleveroctopus-1200x740.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 16:18:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/940"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38084"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72237,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38084\/revisions\/72237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}