A shark made out of tin cans and a robot with an old lamp as a head, forks as arms and bottle caps as eyes are just two of artist Alexi Devilliers’ unique creations; however, the story behind the creations is even more unique.
Devilliers makes food for homeless individuals and then recycles the cans from the food to make the robots, which he sells at downtown Phoenix’s First Fridays.
Devilliers typically makes between 80 and 125 meals every Saturday and distributes the food at Justa Center, a shelter for the elderly homeless population.
“They have food Monday through Friday, but nothing on Saturday and Sunday, so my wife and I took it upon ourselves to start getting them something big and hearty,” Devilliers said.
Devilliers makes all of the food he donates to the homeless at home himself.
“I go and buy fresh meat, fresh potatoes or rice, and then canned fruit and canned vegetables, or canned desert,” he said.
Devilliers started making the robots in 2010 and said he got the idea from a previous hobby when he lived in Florida.
“I used to make things in south Florida out of cardboard boxes … I used to make airplanes, helicopters and different things like that,” Devilliers said.
Devilliers’ wife, Denise Devilliers, recently had a child, but she is also involved in the outreach.
“I used to help serve the meals as well and take it to them before I got pregnant. Now I clean the kitchen,” she said.
Most of Devilliers’ material comes from the recycled cans from the food he makes for the homeless. However, others donate to his projects as well.
“Very nice people drop cans in my yard or save me their regular food cans, and they bring them to me at festivals, or they just drop them here in the yard,” Devilliers said.
Corin Grimm, one of Devilliers’ customers, said she’s interested in Devilliers’ art because her brother is homeless.
“This man, I’m sure, has fed my brother several times over, and when I saw the project, I thought it was great,” Grimm said. “I brought my husband. We went to a First Friday, and I saw the lamp was a robot, and I had to get it for my husband. But more so the reason I’m back to buy more is because one, I think it’s really cool, but secondly it’s because it goes back to feeding the homeless.”
Devilliers is a frequent artist at First Fridays and has several robots available, including some specifically for kids.
“I have this thing ‘under ten for ten,’” Devilliers said. “If a kid comes up with five dollars, and he wants to help me, there’s a whole section for children of smaller little things.”
Contact the columnist at Holly.Bernstein@asu.edu.
