A Can-Do Attitude

To the average soda lover or beer drinker, an aluminum can is nothing more than a vessel used to transport a favorite beverage to his or her mouth.

But to Christine Grimaldi Esposito, cans are canvas, a surface upon which she uses her crafty touch to shape and mold pieces of art and jewelry.

Three years ago, while recuperating from knee surgery, Esposito occupied her time with crafting, something she had been doing for decades. She had long been repurposing other items as a way to encourage recycling and to do something for the environment, she says. Housebound and bored with the bottle caps, denim and juice bottles she had been using, Esposito surfed the Internet, looking for inspiration. She found it in an aluminum sculpture.

"It really made me think about the aluminum. I remember telling my husband that there were so many cool things on the cans," says Esposito, who brands her creations Funky Recycling. "I just think it's one of those things people don't really look at. They know 'this is my Pepsi can,' but somebody at one time took the time to do the jokes, logos, graphics and designs on the cans."

She didn't know it at the time, but aluminum would become her sole medium. The demand, especially for her jewelry, has been high, she says. To date, she has made 5,232 individual sales at craft fairs, First Fridays and online. Many of those were large orders with multiple items.

"It's almost overwhelming," Esposito says. "If you would have told me three years ago when I first started with aluminum that it would be this big for me, I would have laughed at you."

The kind of can doesn't matter -- V8, Red Bull, Diet Coke, Pabst Blue Ribbon -- Esposito has used them all. She crafts earrings, pendants, tiny figures, magnets, bracelets and larger pieces of art. Their origin is of no consequence, either. Esposito will use cans given to her by people she calls "can fairies," friends who drop off bags of cans by her doorstep. Or, she rummages in the trash herself.

Her two teenagers have finally stopped telling her, "Mom, get out of the trash," because they know it does no good, Esposito says. They have even started helping her.

"I'm so into the recycling aspect of it, too," Esposito says. "We go from place to place, stop and pick up cans we see on the side of the road. The kids will be on their bikes and come home with cans rolled up in their T-shirts. We don't take from people's recycling bins, though. My thought is that if people go to enough trouble to get them recycled, I don't want to take away from that."

Using recycled materials isn't a new concept among artists, but Esposito is among only a handful of locals artists who do, says Gina Quaranto, a local artist and director of the Place Gallery on Main Street.

"She reminds me of an artisan from the past who finds useful purposes for things we might think are garbage. Her artwork is amazing," Quaranto says. "I hope that it shows people that not everything should just be thrown away. I think that her stuff encourages people to repurpose things. She's one of the best at that."

Earlier this month, Esposito entered a piece in the popular art show "SKA8" at the Place Gallery. Entrants used skateboards as their canvas. Her piece was among the popular boards in the show, Quaranto notes.

Esposito moved to Las Vegas with her then-fiance and now husband more than 17 years ago, following her parents to town. She had been teaching arts and crafts in private schools and senior homes. She also worked in retail crafts, conducting workshops and doing community outreach. When she was promoted to store manager, she realized she wanted to do more hands-on work and left to teach again.

For the past seven years, Esposito has worked for the Clark County School District as a teacher's aide for special education students. The demand for her jewelry and art has grown so much recently that she is now considering doing it full time.

"Doing my Funky Recycling, I'm making more money than my day job," says Esposito, who is off for the summer.

Some of Esposito's creations can be found on funkyrecycling.com.

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@review journal.com or 702-380-4564.