Does this art piece belong in the landfill? Of course not!
But that is where many old or broken mannequins end up because retailers still throw their unwanted mannequins in the trash instead of letting companies like Mannequin Madness recycle them.
We tell retailers all the time that even though they no longer have a need for their old or distressed mannequins, there are lots of artists who could covet these things. Truly someone else’s trash is someone else’s treasure.
Every time we liquidate a store, we have a bargain bin of assorted mannequin parts – torsos, hands, legs etc – at our mannequin warehouse for our local artists to scour through. The items the purchase at these bargain prices become all kinds of interesting art projects.
I am personally partial to mosaic artists because this is the reason why I became an “entrepreneur by accident”. I was looking to buy a used mannequin to mosaic and put in my garden.
I saw a mannequin for sale on craigslist and discovered that the seller ran the only mannequin rental business in town and was closing shop. I bought his entire inventory and started Mannequin Madness – first as a part-time venture and then it exploded from there.
I never did get around to my mosaic project, but I love to see examples of various mosaic projects using mannequin parts. Here are a few others I found online:
This one is from Tiffany Miller Mosaics
This one is by Anne Schwegmann-Fielding and the sculpture is of the “countess.”
This is from Sally Kendall Mosaics
