Cool Recycle Fashion Show at The Urban Institute for Contemporary Art

If you are in the Grand Rapids Michigan area (I wish I was) check out this cool recycle event at the

NOSHNIGHT: RECYCLED RUNWAY
August 8
5–7 PM Material Afterlife Carnival
7–9 PM Noshnight: Recycled Runway!
$5 admission (includes 1 drink ticket)
NoshNight events bring West Michigan’s creative community together. The events focus on art and design in the broadest sense, and showcase the area’s finest architects, designers, and artists. The first NoshNight was a smashing success enjoyed by over 300 creative professionals.

As the second installment of the NoshNight series, UICA is hosting Recycled Runway and Street Party. Recycled Runway will feature innovative clothing made from recycled and repurposed materials. Come and see the area’s best and brightest fashion designers’ wearable art in a one of a kind fashion show. Indulge in amazing locally grown food by Bar Divani, Tommy Fitzgerald, 616, Bistro Bella Vita and The Green Well. And enjoy great music and a cash bar while models strut
their stuff on the runway.

Creative Challenge: 20 days, 20 items
Join the fun by creating your own “trashion.” Use you own materials or stop by UICA for a grab bag of 20 items to create your own recycled headgear, footgear, full ensemble or whatever you decide!

From 5–7 PM, there will be a street party with carnival games, live music, and a family workshop. For more information call 616 454 7000 x19

Read These Next

Human brains are pretty amazing, allowing us to think, feel, create, communicate, move and more. But humans aren’t the only animals with cool brains, as Crab Museum explains in the book The No-Brainer Brain Explainer (illustrated by Bruno Valasse).

This book, aimed at kids in grades 1-4, is colorful and silly but also educational about how brains actually work, with billions of neurons sending electrical and chemical signals around the body.

“Everything we think, feel and experience comes from an electrical relay race, with neurons passing chemical batons to each other,” the book says. “The constant chatter of billions of brain cells creates your entire world.”

The book compares the brains of mammals to those of crabs (the book is “written” by a crab after all) and notes that crabs have fewer neurons and of course are much smaller, but they have separate parts of their brains that control their eyes and their legs. Crabs are also capable of remembering things, using tools and solving puzzles.

Some animals’ brains allow them to know more about their world in different ways from humans, such as spiders being sensitive to vibrations in their webs and catfish having an amazing sense of taste, with taste sensors all over their bodies.

It notes that 95 percent of brain activity goes toward things we do unconsciously, like breathing, walking and catching a ball flying toward us. It also talks about dreams, memory, how our emotions try to predict the future, where brains came from and fun facts about brains. For example, did you know a sperm whale is believed to have the biggest brain of any creature that’s even lived? Their brains weigh 18 pounds, compared to just 2.5 pounds for humans.

Information on what creatures have the smallest brains, the toughest brains, the most brains and those who actually eat their own brains will delight kids (and maybe gross them out a little bit). They’ll also enjoy learning about the mycelium network of fungi, which is like a brain without a body, and slime molds, which are like a brain without a brain.

It ends talking about why human brains are so special because we’ve found ways to work together, communicate and build communities on a scale bigger than any other animal.

Kids and adults alike will enjoy this colorful, silly and informational book about brains!

About the book: 64 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $19.99.

Read These Next

Have you read?