Primed canvases ready to be eco art-ed!
All set up for eco art!
My first eco arts in the parks session was held a few days ago! I decided to fish through the recycling bins throughout the park and grab a bag full of cans and bottles that visitors had RESPONSIBLY taken care of but due to the lack of recycling services (there are NONE within 100 miles) would end up in a landfill! I pre-primed the beverage vessels (lol) so they were ready to be painted on by visitors. The first family that came by was full of artistic energy! The parents had three boys and a girl who wanted to paint on as much trash as they could get their child-sized hands on! Each kid did 2-3 separate paintings, some of which were very impressive! The youngest child just kinda flailed and painted a green can another shade of green. I was happy he was able to go through the motions but he actually ended up leaving behind a few of his pieces. At first, I was sad, but it was probably for the better! As I mentioned before, the goal is to keep these materials out of a landfill, so I ended up just taking the leftover art and priming over it for someone else to paint on later. This process is turning into a very meta recycling art cycle and I love it!!!
Guadalupe Mountain range on an Arizona Ice Tea can
Three of the four siblings posing with their creations
Loved how the two bottles went together to form a larger piece!
Who needs to buy a snow globe when you possess the power of paint!!
Some notable visiting artists included a junior ranger (green vest and all!!) make a painting on a pamphlet for her friend! Why pay for souvenirs when you can MAKE THEM!? Her sister painted on the ENTIRE bottle and a man from Holland made an expressive color block landscape. Later in the day some little boys and their grandparents stopped by. THEY WERE AMAZING! This one little boy couldn't have been more than 3 years old and he was literally double fisting paintbrushes and saying "I love pink, I love lellow (yellow), I love green" for the whole session! His older brother started going at his can painting with dark maroons and greens. After completed, I pointed out how his brush strokes formed the shape of a mountain and the kid was SO STOKED! He literally flipped out being like, "I painted the Guadalupe Mountains without even knowing it!" Then went off to declare, "I love my beautiful art" as he proudly presented his work to his grandparents.
THIS IS WHAT IT IS ABOUT! What an amazing day!! I am excited to come up with new ways to get visitors acquainted with the term eco art!
Double fisting paintbrushes (aka MY HERO)
Look at that sunset behind the mountains!