Noah’s Ark is a 17-week project with a real purpose, initiated and organised by Laura I. Art Gallery CIC – a multi-award-winning, non-profit arts organisation and gallery.
Noah’s Ark truly is a never-before-seen initiative, first and foremost in the way it combines the causes of environmentalism, arts/crafts and community cohesion, but furthermore in terms of the final objective of the project – its ‘finished product’, so to speak: the curating and crafting of a large-scale, Ark-like sculpture in the gallery’s borough of Barking, made entirely out of the plastic bottles that were polluting the community’s open spaces. Our sculpture, made by and for our local community, will be the first of its kind in Barking and beyond!
The project comprises two distinct and dynamic events that run every Friday evening and Saturday morning, respectively: Friday plastic bottle painting workshops and Saturday morning plastic bottle picking days. On Fridays, families and friends of the gallery gather for fun painting events, where the bottles that were picked-up during the Saturday litter-picking events or dropped-off at the gallery throughout the week were painted in the gallery space itself, surrounded by other works of art. These bottles were personalised by our participants, painted in any way they wanted; the different sizes, colours and the messages behind them representative of their painters and awaiting their place altogether as the ‘bricks’ of the final ark sculpture!
Noah’s Ark is a 17-week project with a real purpose, initiated and organised by Laura I. Art Gallery CIC – a multi-award-winning, non-profit arts organisation and gallery.
Noah’s Ark truly is a never-before-seen initiative, first and foremost in the way it combines the causes of environmentalism, arts/crafts and community cohesion, but furthermore in terms of the final objective of the project – its ‘finished product’, so to speak: the curating and crafting of a large-scale, Ark-like sculpture in the gallery’s borough of Barking, made entirely out of the plastic bottles that were polluting the community’s open spaces. Our sculpture, made by and for our local community, will be the first of its kind in Barking and beyond!
The project comprises two distinct and dynamic events that run every Friday evening and Saturday morning, respectively: Friday plastic bottle painting workshops and Saturday morning plastic bottle picking days. On Fridays, families and friends of the gallery gather for fun painting events, where the bottles that were picked-up during the Saturday litter-picking events or dropped-off at the gallery throughout the week were painted in the gallery space itself, surrounded by other works of art. These bottles were personalised by our participants, painted in any way they wanted; the different sizes, colours and the messages behind them representative of their painters and awaiting their place altogether as the ‘bricks’ of the final ark sculpture!
At the painting workshops, Laura I. Art gallery CIC sees participants that represent every part of the local community, purely because of the universalising nature of the project’s core values of environmentalism, the arts/crafts and community cohesion. These are causes that engage and are important to everyone, of all ages and of every social standing! Our Saturday litter-picking events speak particularly to residents who want to stand up for the environment in a way that allows them to start right outside their doorstep in the spaces they share as a community every day. With this being said, these events aren’t without a good dose of fun and friendly competition to see who can collect the most bottles!
At Laura I. Art Gallery CIC, whichever cause we turn our attention to, we do it together! All our events share the spirit of togetherness and so with that said, we would love to have you on board our ark, whether this be in spreading the news of our project in an upcoming press article, or in person, taking part in our events! We believe every great story starts with a problem that is shared and then solved and Noah’s Ark encompasses this entirely; whilst the project addresses the unbelievable and unacceptable reality of plastic pollution, our tackling of the problem in the name of the arts, culture and community will make for a powerful and relevant read.
At Laura I. Art Gallery CIC, whichever cause we turn our attention to, we do it together! All our events share the spirit of togetherness and so with that said, we would love to have you on board our ark, whether this be in spreading the news of our project in an upcoming press article, or in person, taking part in our events! We believe every great story starts with a problem that is shared and then solved and Noah’s Ark encompasses this entirely; whilst the project addresses the unbelievable and unacceptable reality of plastic pollution, our tackling of the problem in the name of the arts, culture and community will make for a powerful and relevant read.