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Students Make Statements In Recycling Art Contest

Klint Lowry/SUNCOAST

People “love” the annual Art of Recycling contest, says Jennifer Seney, the county’s recycling coordinator. In the contest high school students strive to make the most artistic use of recyclable materials in creating multimedia works.

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: January 27, 2009

Updated:

NEW PORT RICHEY - In art, the term "mixed media" refers to artwork made from a combination of materials. The media is about as mixed as it gets among the 101 entries in the 12th annual Art of Recycling competition.

Art of Recycling, now on display in the lobby of the West Pasco County Government Center, is a joint effort among the Pasco County School District, Pasco County Utilities, Pasco County Public Services and the Pasco Fine Arts Council and supported by more than a dozen community businesses, organizations and individuals.

Its purpose is presenting the concept of recycling in an entertaining way that, its organizers hope, inspires participants and viewers alike to consider the wide range of possibilities when a little imagination is applied to otherwise discarded materials.

High school artists from around the county, working under a simple set of guidelines, supply the imagination. Their entries can be in any art style - prints, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, architecture, wearable art and others that defy categorization - so long as they are made from 70 percent recycled materials and convey an environmental theme.

As they do every year, the entries display both a serious dose of environmental consciousness and an infinite supply of creative imagination.

Of all the ways they try to promote recycling, this has easily become a community favorite, said Jennifer Seney, Pasco County recycling coordinator as she strolled among the entries.

"People love this event; they think it's wonderful," Seney said, adding that she shares that sentiment.

"What impresses people most is the level of involvement," Seney continued. As someone dedicated to promoting recycling, she said, that passing from entry to entry, seeing the level of the time, thought and energy invested by so many teens year in, year out gives her a sense of hope for the future.

Hope and smiles. The key to popularity of the Art of Recycling event is that it has succeeded equally as an environmental message and as a display of creativity. While the focus of the event is on recycling, there is also a serious component of creative competition. The art is judged in a dozen different categories, with prizes of $100 to $500 in each category.

Some of the categories lean toward the environmental aspect of the event, including Best Use of Newspaper, Best Environmental Concept and Best Use of Materials.

Bottles and cans are prevalent elements of the entries, Seaney noted. In one piece alone, Ryan Beeble of Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School, in the Hudson area, used 332 soda cans to create an "Ameri-Can Flag." In another entry, Kristen Chavez of Ridgewood High School created an oversized disposable soda bottle out of real-life plastic soda bottle tops.

It makes sense there would be so much usage of battles and cans, Seney said - it's what students have access to. School recycling bins are a treasure trove for a project like this. To get the students to think in broader terms when considering recyclables, categories like "best use of newspaper" were invented. That category was created specifically because of the large amount of newsprint in the waste stream.

Other prizes focus on the art as art, including a People's Choice Award.

For participating high school seniors, there is a chance at a $1,000 scholarship. A committee selects the recipient based on grade point average, a brief essay, the applicant's planned course of study for college and other considerations, according to Karen Bryant, School District recycling coordinator and a member of the Art of Recycling committee.

Bryant shared Seney's enthusiasm for the event and its impact on participants and public alike.

"The Pasco Art of Recycling is a great way for our students to express their creativity and their compassion for recycling," Bryant said. "With its creative and intriguing artwork, it helps address the need for our community to recycle and conserve.

"In my opinion, if the show encourages even just one more person to recycle than it has done its job."

The Art of Recycling will remain on exhibit at the in county government center at 7530 Little Road through Feb. 18. Prizewinners will be announced at a reception Feb. 5.

Once the exhibit closes, the winning art pieces will be transferred to the School District headquarters, off U.S. 41 in Land O' Lakes, where they will be displayed through Feb. 23.

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