Earth Day & Night in Manchester

Very exciting. Earth Day in Manchester has been going on for 5 years. Wow. Now there's talk of raising it a notch or two - more fun - more things to do - more food - more green. Stay tuned.

Karung guni at Art Works

Don't miss this. Melody Gulick, resident artist at Art Works has created a Karung Guni on the fence at Art Works. Melody says:

Karung guni is a Malay phrase for "gunnysack". In Indonesia there are men that go out to gather recycling for a living/profit. In my case I am collecting unwanted items to be reused.

Recycling is not uncommon in Manchester including anyone from: households, businesses (well not so much for businesses, because the city does not allow businesses to recycle even though we pay a monthly recycle fee ), and individuals who collect aluminum cans and metal (including our metal Art Works sign) to cash in at the "Pocket Money" recycle center on the corner of Hull and 7th. And artists are major recyclers, as they have visions of transforming most anything into art.

In fact we see more and more mixed-media artworks in the galleries and are amazed by the creativity and uses of discarded materials.

Melody used a studio at Art Works to store her materials - plastic bags of various colors. She tore these in strips and during the months of September and October of this year, she spent a portion of each day weaving and crocheting the material into the fence.

The result is a image of crocheted trees to contrast the roughness of Art Works' parking lot and its industrial feeling. She says:

The three challenges to this installation are materials, time and a conviction that will carry me to the end. The use of only recycled materials are used on this installation.

It is a large project that will go around the north, west and south side of the parking lot. I would like to complete the project in a little over a month's time. Each day that goes by on a large project, one goes through a psychological process. I am sure many artists have been through this.

I decided to use the image of crocheted trees to contrast the roughness of the parking lot and its industrial feeling.

The project is to help inspire the idea that something can be made from anything ... and everything is beautiful if we look and try hard enough, hope and work for it.

One day's thoughts while at work:

"Hooks, rings, tunes similar to "Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind", old balloons melted from the sun, bubbled street paint, green moss find every available place to live, a feather from a pigeon and a fitting note that read...make a list of questions to send to general/members. Before Thanksgiving."

So now Earth Day Festival plans are taking shape in Manchester. Last year yielded five real, live green trees planted in front of Art Works on Hull Street. We tenderly watered the trees throughout the summer and pull the weeds from around the roots. No weed would compete for those long-awaited trees. Yeah Earth Day!

The next stage of the Karung Guni project is the slow removal. What goes up, must come down. It's part of the process!

For more about Art Works click here: http://www.artworksrichmond.com/ and Melody Gulick http://www.artworksrichmond.com/MelodyGulick.htm