One of the benefits of being a long-time member of a local art community is that on occasion you get asked to help judge art contests. I began my morning on Earth Day at an awards ceremony held at the Louisville Zoo. Last week I was one of six judges looking at children’s artwork (from preschool to high school) made from recycled elements. Originality, material diversity, and creativity were the criteria. The art exhibit is entitled “Trashformation” and this is the inaugural event hosted by the zoo. Although most of the entries were from Louisville, art projects also came in from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The winners from each of the various school group categories were recognized on an absolutely beautiful Spring morning.
Graciously presenting the prizes to the students was Louisville’s Mayor Greg Fischer. The kids and their families were excited to have the Mayor on hand and he was very cordial and approachable. Mayor Fischer reinforced the idea of how critical it is to preserve and protect the environment. The Mayor highlighted a few of the green initiatives his administration has championed including appointing a Metro Director of Sustainability, increasing curbside recycling, and surveying the health of Metro Louisville’s tree canopy. Making the status of the urban environment a priority is vital to the city’s quality of life and is good for business as well.
Kids need little persuasion on the importance of reducing, recycling, and reusing. They seem to get it and now it’s up to the rest of us to get on board! Here is the winning team from the group category. Their winning entry featured a recycled globe, plastic bottles, aluminum foil, plastic, and cardboard.
On the table are a few more of the winning entries across various categories. The homemade orange recycling bin made of cardboard and aluminum cans is a witty submission from a middle school duo. Other notable projects included a shoe box diorama of the zoo and a bird with nest and eggs made from a recycled art book.
This creative “Recycle Man” was a popular choice among all the entries. The girl standing next to the Mayor is the artist who made it. A large crowd was on hand thanks to a “Two Dollar Day” promotion sponsored by Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities.
This young lady accepted her award for her artwork and couldn’t wait to share it with her family. I’m sure there were several fond memories created on this morning. After the awards ceremony I decided to check out some of the animals at the zoo. The Louisville Zoo is Metro Louisville’s most popular attraction. In addition to being a fun destination, the zoo is also well-known for its many conservation successes. I always enjoy watching the Lowland Gorillas and they were having breakfast outdoors on this fine morning in the Derby City.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 
This is so great to see, Al! Go Louisville, go kids! I love the name “Trashformation” — might have to co-opt that one at some point. 🙂 It’s really heartening to see that this is taking hold in Kentucky, both among government and people. Who knows, maybe next will be the 4th “R” — Rot! I wonder if Mayor Fisher would be into pushing a composting program.
Speaking of trash and art, the artists in residence program at the SF dump I told you about is having a big exhibit at SF International Airport for the next 8 months — very prominent, in the new Terminal 3. I love the idea of taking trash out of the dump and presenting it to visitors as the first thing they see upon arrival. 😉
Sven…I’ll check out the link. Yes, Metro Louisville is by necessity getting involved with issues of sustainability. As for the zoo, once upon a time (not sure they still do this) but bags of “Zoo Doo” were available for purchase.
zoo doo is one of the best fertilizers out there, I hope they still have that program. It’s just such a statement of modern industrial society that we build chemical fertilizer plants that blow up and kill dozens of people while we’re throwing almost all of the natural, readily available fertilizer away. If I were Kurt Vonnegut I’d write a book about how the human brain evolved to a size that is too big for its own britches.
Referencing that chemical fertilizer plant in Texas just reminds me how much of our contemporary dilemma could be addressed by reducing our dependence on petroleum to begin with…not just foreign produced petroleum, but petroleum period.
fyi, I was interviewed for an article (“Keeping South Burlington Clean One Day at a Time”) and it has been published in the May issue of the South Burlington Life magazine. On the second page of the article there is a section titled “4 Blogs to check out”. (Blogs with similiar missions to my blog). After the blog titles, there is a brief description of the blog and its owner. You and Artist at Exit O are included.
Bernie
http://www.litterwithastorytotell.blogspot.com/
Bernie…congrats on being interviewed for a magazine. You have been at this for a while and deserve the recognition. I always appreciate your humor and support of my efforts. Thanks for plugging my story too!