Of the 20 years that ex-commercial artist Bruce Campbell, of Longmont, has been practicing art, 17 of those have been dedicated to producing art from recycled material.

On Sept. 26, some of his work was displayed outside the University Memorial Center on the CU campus as part of the Recycled Art and Product Extravaganza. Local Boulder companies like Ecological Design, Savitrees and Buffalo Exchange showcased and sold functional products made from recycled and reused materials.

While these local companies ran their booths, Campbell couldn't resist adding more paint to some of his work on display. One particular piece, called the Celestial Mailbox, was a big hit with passersby.

"This one guy said, 'That's where you should put your letters to God,'" says Campbell. "I thought that was an interesting way of looking at it."

According to Campbell, one of the original farms in Boulder County, located near the Boulder Reservoir, was burned down in the late '80s.

"It was an historical area filled with outhouses and barns and even handmade nails. But the land was owned by a guy who didn't care about it," says Campbell. "He wanted to rent two of the houses but didn't want to pay taxes on the rest, so he told the fire department they could do their training on those houses."

According to Campbell, the county also was allegedly talking about using the rest of the property for open space, so that perhaps persuaded the landlord to hand it over for the fire department's use.

When the homes and outhouses were cleared by fire, there was still plenty of metal left over. Campbell couldn't help but scrounge up as much metal as he could.

"I thought, 'Why buy canvas when you have all this metal to work with?'" said Campbell. "I'm a painter, scrounger and reuser."

To see learn more about Campbell and see more photos of his art, go to www.brucecampbellart.com.