Monday, September 27, 2010

I'm Off the Bottle Campaign a Huge Success


On Saturday, Art for Water partnered with Peterborough Rotary Club and Franklin Pierce University to raise awareness of the plastic waste generated by buying bottled water. With an informative booth welcoming attendees of the Monadnock Rotary sponsored Wellness Fair outside the Peterborough Town House, we invited folks to sign a pledge to stop buying bottled water. Every 10th signer won a free, filled stainless steel water bottle donated to Art for Water by Innate-Gear. More than 150 people signed the pledge. An art installation using recycled, plastic, single-serve water bottles, designed and produced by Franklin Pierce University students last fall cascaded out of the second story window. The message was clear: there is an easy alternative to generating more plastic waste!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Art for Water Partners with Rotary Club and Franklin Pierce University in "I'm Off the Bottle" Campaign


The Peterborough Rotary in NH decided to introduce their "I'm Off the Bottle" Campaign at the Monadnock Wellness Fair on Saturday, September 25th. Someone from Franklin Pierce University heard about this campaign and suggested that they use the installation that Franklin Pierce University students designed and produced last fall when I was the artist-in-residence. So Peterborough Rotary invited me and Joni Doherty, Director of the New England Center for Civic Life at FPU who hired me last year, to work with them in making a visual statement about the environmental impact of buying bottled water. Last fall, the FPU students collected hundreds of recycled plastic, single-serve water bottles and strung them together with wire to make a monumental cascade of plastic waste. Yesterday, four Rotary members and I installed the piece at the Peterborough Town House in preparation for the Wellness Fair. Innate-Gear has donated another batch of beautiful stainless steel water bottles to Art for Water and we're going to fill them with tap water and give one to each of the vendors at the Fair. We'll have a booth with information about bottled water and ask participants to sign an "I'm Off the Bottle" Pledge. Everyone who signs will get an "I'm Off the Bottle" bookmark and sticker. Onward and upward!