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Sally Heller's art is all about the junk.

"I'm not really an environmentalist, but I like the idea of making nature out of the things we consume and throw away," she said.

For "Bloom'n'Doom," a site-specific installation she just created for the Miami University Art Museum, pipe cleaners, PVC pipe, google eyes and other craft store merchandise form giant trees growing out of a mylar pond in an environment populated with foam ball insects.

"It's like our landfills are sprouting this artificial nature," she said. "But within that premise, I've always been very interested in making certain kinds of visual equations with this cheap, low-end stuff.

"One of the contradictions that I work with a lot is the amount of time spent fussing with this very low-end stuff to make this highly visualized thing. That's what people are most astonished at: Why would anybody spend so much time making things with this stuff?

"But at the same time, I hope that it is beautiful, too."

She's been making these kinds of installations since she was asked to do a show at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center with a lot of space to fill. Someone had given her a box full of plastic yellow lids and she started there, stringing the lids together until it made something that looked a lot like a tree.

Accompanying this exhibition are prints, photographs and photo proofs derived from Heller's other installations.

HOW TO GO

WHAT: "Bloom'n'Doom" by Sally Heller

WHERE: Miami University Art Museum, Oxford

WHEN: Through May 10

COST: No charge

MORE INFO: (513) 529-3232