5 ECO-FRIENDLY PEOPLE
The
RECYCLING
ARTIST
BY GLORIA TAYLOR WEINBERG
If her husband hadn’t insisted she take her
40
“junk” out of the garage, Debra Magrann
might not have moved her studio into the
Art Bank in downtown Fort Pierce.
But at Art Mundo, a center for creative expression
for at least 40 artists, one person’s junk often
becomes another’s art. And in Magrann’s case,
a lizard’s lounge or a toad’s chickee. “I’m a real
clutter bug, and I save everything from peach pits
to cantaloupe seeds, sticks and stones,” Magrann
says. “But the first things I look for are things to
do with local history and local ecology.”
And with these things, once they’re dried
and sanitized, and if necessary, shaped to her
will, Magrann fashions fantasy habitats for tiny
creatures — real or imaginary. In workshops
and summer camps, the graphics-artist-turnedeco
designer teaches others to do the same. Her
creations and those of her students are limited
only by imagination and the need for safety.
“If we’re using anything pointed, sharp or hot,
like Xacto knives or glue guns, I limit my classes
to students 16 and older,” she says. “And some
of the prettiest things you find outdoors, like the
bright red rosary peas, are poisonous; you have to
be very careful.”
Magrann is a native of Texas who grew up
outside of Chicago. “I was a real city girl, never
involved with nature until I moved to Florida,”
she says.
During a brief stint as a guide at Butterfly World
in Coconut Creek, Magrann decided to combine
an old love, art, with a new one, ecology. “I know
God gave me this talent, and he put me in the
most beautiful garden in South Florida, where I
found peace and tranquility,” Magrann says.
It is that feeling, most of all, that she wants to
share with others. “I use my imagination, and being
here, I feel like I’m among the geniuses of the
local art world,” Magrann says.
Encaustic artist Allie Comer, one of the cofounders
of Art Mundo, says Magrann’s enthusiasm
for recycling, repurposing and reusing
adds a unique angle to her art. “Her students just
love her,” Comer says, during one of Magrann’s
recent workshops.
At that workshop, one of Magrann’s students, a
>>
GLORIA TAYLOR WEINBERG
Debra Magrann uses everything from peach pits to cantaloupe seeds to create her art.
LIVING GREEN
Educate our children about
man’s footprint on the environment
and the importance of ‘Leave No
Trace,’ as the Boy Scouts say.
— Debra M”agrann
“