Fridge doors become canvasses for art display

Fridge doors become canvasses for art display. Ryan Buchnea admires his fridge door art, which is on display at Crema Coffee Company. The exhibit is part of the Junction Arts Festival. Staff photo/ERIC HEINO

That's because it was the site of Straight From the Fridge, a showcase of retro refrigerator doors converted into works of art by Canadian artists. The artwork was only there for the weekend, but the intended message remains relevant.

Sponsored by Toronto Hydro, the eye-catching exhibit was designed to not only look good and but also remind people to keep energy conservation in mind when it comes to their old, power-sucking appliances. Many people are still holding onto fridges and freezers that are eligible for Toronto Hydro's fridge pick-up recycling program.

"What happens is when people buy a new fridge they will throw that second one in the basement and often times there isn't even anything in it," said Tanya Bruckmueller, representative of Toronto Hydro. "What they don't realize is that can cost up to $150 to $180 a year in energy costs."

It only takes one call to Toronto Hydro at 1-877-797-9473 to book an appointment where staff will come to take a fridge right out of the basement or garage and bring it back to their recycling facility. A similar program is run by the City of Toronto except that participants don't have to do any of the heavy lifting themselves.

More than 4,000 old fridges have been collected already by Toronto Hydro and their partners, Ontario Power Authority. Bruckmueller said he hopes exposure in the arts festival would boost those numbers.

"This event is a blending of art and conservation together," said Bruckmueller. "We had all these beautiful vintage doors we were taking off the grid and recycling, but we thought it would be a nice fit to see if artists would take these as inspiration and turn them into masterpieces."

One of the six doors on display was created by Toronto-based artist Ryan Buchnea. His concept was power plants, and he decided include a play on words as his focal point.

"Power plants was my concept, so these are some pretty strange looking plants inspired by green ideas," Buchnea said as he gestured toward his bright green and yellow canvas that used to be a Leonard brand fridge door. "This guy here is the power tower sun god flower."

With an atom bloom rising out of an electrical tower, a light bulb flower and a leafy windmill, his door was getting a lot of attention and was designed to get people thinking green.

Aside from showing his creative flair, Buchnea was happy to be part of something that could make a difference to the environment.

"I thought it was really cool that we have an opportunity to think about these kinds of things because many people aren't very educated on energy conservation. For a big corporation like Toronto Hydro to get people and artists involved is pretty cool," he said.

To be eligible for pickup, fridges and freezers must be at least 15 years old, between 10 and 27 cubic feet and be in working condition.