Residency Award: 2014 GLEAN

In 2014, Whitney Nye was awarded a coveted spot in the GLEAN Artist Residency, a Portland-based program that challenges artists to reimagine discarded materials as the raw ingredients for fine art. Hosted at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center and funded in part by Metro and Recology, GLEAN selects only a handful of artists each year to spend five months transforming items salvaged from the Metro Central transfer station—one of the region’s largest waste and recycling facilities—into thought-provoking works of art.

About the GLEAN Residency

The GLEAN program merges environmental responsibility with artistic innovation. Selected artists receive access to thousands of pounds of discarded materials, along with a stipend and studio space, to create a new body of work. The resulting pieces are exhibited at Disjecta, sparking public conversations about consumption, waste, and sustainability.

Metro, the regional government serving the Portland metropolitan area, developed GLEAN to inspire awareness about resource conservation while celebrating creative reuse. By engaging the public through art, the program aims to shift perspectives on what we throw away—and what it means to truly value materials.

Why Whitney Nye Was Selected

Whitney Nye’s inclusion in the 2014 cohort recognized her distinctive approach to pattern, texture, and materiality. Her practice, rooted in curiosity and process, naturally aligned with GLEAN’s mission. By working directly with salvaged items, Nye explored themes of renewal, repetition, and transformation, reframing once-discarded objects into works that celebrated both their history and potential.

The Bigger Impact

Residencies like GLEAN are more than artistic opportunities—they’re catalysts for community dialogue. Visitors to Nye’s exhibition at Disjecta experienced the intersection of art and environmental advocacy firsthand, leaving with a renewed sense of how creativity can reshape our relationship with waste.