Red Dirt Diaries: Salvation Through Salvage

One man's trash isn't just another man's treasure, it’s also providing salvation for one artist.

Artist Jeff Shoemake works out of a storage unit in Edmond. The place is filled with things that look like they should be in the dump. But Shoemake is constantly finding purpose in the items he finds.

“They are good for supports, good for a lot of different things,” said Shoemake while holding two broken golf clubs.

He shows amazing attention detail in charcoal portraits, and his paintings on cedar planks will soon be sold in stores.

His largest piece in a collage of all sorts of clutter is a 5-foot tall and 8-foot long green dinosaur. It’s made of old furniture, tennis racquets, snow skies, gardening equipment, crutches and even an old Tonka truck Shoemake had as a kid.

“I think we have settled on “Repurposaurus,” said Shoemake on the name of the art piece.

Shoemake has a certain attachment to Repurposaurus because it’s the first project he started after drug rehab.

Shoemake was addicted to meth and has been clean for seven months.

“I was doing it 7 to 8 times a day, shooting up,” said Shoemake.

Shoemake finds salvation in his faith and all that he salvages.

"The power of this is to show people no matter how bad you think it’s gotten, there is still a story to tell," said Shoemake about his projects made of trash.

Shoemake hopes to sell Repurposaurus but thinks it would be perfect on display Midtown or the Paseo Arts District.

You can contact Jeff Shoemake at jshoemakedesign@gmail.com.

You can check out his artwork on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeff.shoemake.7