David Hammons, Untitled, 1992
Make art from trash.

 In this untitled sculpture, David Hammons planted copper wires in stones and wrapped the wires in African-American hair picked up from the floors of barber shops. The overall effect is of a giant, spidery insect—or a spiky head of dreadlocks.

Hammons is interested in hair not just as part of the body, but also as something that has been thrown away. Ask your students to brainstorm some other materials that could be used as art materials but are often thrown away. How would they use these materials to create a work of art? Would they use many amounts of the same item or combine different items? Where could they find these items?