WHY MARTY WALKER?S IDEA OF REUSING ART CRATES SHOULD GO GLOBAL
Marty Walker has long been prominent on the Dallas art scene. She occupied an elegantly designed building a couple of miles from Dragon Street long before the locale became a trendy place to set up shop. She represented a host of artists who proved to be blue-chip talent, but in 2013 she opted to move on. She?s still interested in art, but frames or gallery walls no longer confine it. She?s engaged in a new endeavor dubbed Lonely Crates that?s on a mission to protect the environment. One of her promotional pieces features a tagline over a photograph of undulating terrain. It reads: ?Great works of art need protection.? This, of course, is a clever shift of focus?from nature as raw land to making it as precious as the best artwork adorning the hallowed walls of galleries and museums. And one?very intelligent?way it can be protected is to reuse art crates. Thus, the idea for Lonely Crates is not just smart, it?s great for the environment, and it allows gallery owners to be ?green? while saving hefty sums of money. Plus, since the crates are retrofitted and customized with protective foam, artworks arrive in top condition.
Walker says, ?After years in the gallery business I became aware of how much expense and waste revolved around art crates. Not only is custom-crating expensive, a lot of nice crates are usually thrown out after only one or two uses.? She adds, ?Some forwardthinking galleries and museums have taken notice. They?re ready to start reusing crates because it saves money and space and it?s good for the environment.? One of Dallas?s art gurus, Kenny Goss, is enthusiastic about the idea. Says he, ?I think every gallery should try to be responsible when it comes to taking care of the environment?and the reuse of crates is an ideal way to help us to do our part.? He adds, ?Lonely Crates helps us keep the foundation green, and I?m all for it.?
Walker puts things in perspective with compelling evidence. Only 14.1 percent of wood waste is currently recycled. That means a staggering 13.6-million tons of wood end up in landfills. Plus, the global art market is exploding, and its impact on the environment due to crating and shipping is devastating. In the United States alone, there is an art transaction taking place every four seconds. And that?s only 21 percent of the global market. It?s abundantly clear that Lonely Crates is emerging right on time. It?s also deftly designed to serve huge art centers far beyond North Texas. It?s a brilliant idea that can easily morph into a global way of conducting art sales and shipping. After all, everyone?s favorite color ought to be green. www.lonelycrates.com. P