Eco-Art
Ecoart Treasure Coast is a joint collaboration between the Arts Council, Inc. and the South Florida Environmental Art Project. It is the first ever community eco-art education and apprenticeship in the state of Florida.
Ecoart Treasure Coast is funded by the State of Florida (Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs), Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, and private donations.
In January 2010, Betsy Damon and the project's six, local apprentices began collaborating with a number of local organizations -- including the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center, the National Audubon Society, small enterprises, and city and county government officials -- on a range of projects designed to illustrate how artists and citizens from a broad spectrum of disciplines can work together and significantly restore and remediate the local ecosystem.
If you'd like to volunteer for the project or help support it, please contact 772.287.6676.
EcoArt Treasure Coast to Participate in FOS Earth Day Celebration
As part of its philosophy that we should make Earth Day an "Earth Decade," EcoArt Treasure Coast will install two floating islands on Saturday, April 24 in the saltwater lagoon at the Florida Oceanographic Institute on Hutchinson Island. The islands will be installed between noon and 5 p.m.
The islands were designed by the project's six apprentices and mentor Betsy Damon, along with the assistance of several volunteers from the community, including Jim Moir of the Marine Resources Council.
Key support was also provided by the Environmental Studies Center and the Florida Oceanographic Society. "This project truly underscores the collaborative, community-based nature of EcoArt Treasure Coast," says Jennifer Sylvia, one of the project's apprentices. "It marks the beginning of a new era in Martin County's history where artists are working alongside scientists and citizens to remediate the local ecosystem."
Both islands are made of 100% natural, biodegradable materials, and will be lined with plants native to these parts of Florida. One island consists of glass bottles, coir (a coarse fibre derived from the outer shell of a coconut) and bamboo. The second island will be made entirely out of coconut shells. Later in the spring, the apprentices will install two additional islands. Each island will average roughly ten square feet.
In keeping with the project's belief that ecoart should both generate community awareness about environmental problems and improve the environment, the project's floating islands will help provide shade, nutrients and habitat to the lagoon's life systems. "These islands will help connect the coastal upland systems with the aquatic environment," says Sylvia.
EcoArt Treasure Coast launched the project to illustrate how floating islands can be used to clean and maintain water quality in a variety of waterways, including rivers, streams, lakes, stormwater ponds, and even in golf course ponds. Through a microbial process, floating islands can help remove destructive pollutants from these waterways. In addition, the islands provide shade for the fish, can serve as a nesting habitat for ducks and other birds, and even be a food source for small fish.
Community Embraces EcoArt Treasure Coast
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Ram Realty Services has donated a studio space to Ecoart Treasure Coast, an ongoing effort to create opportunities for the community to interact with art to solve environmental problems. Located in the Martin Downs Town Center in Palm City, the space will host exhibitions, apprentice and community meetings and serve as an "idea foundry" for the project's six apprentices as well as volunteers.
Founded in 1978, Florida-based Ram Realty Services pursues the acquisition, development, and redevelopment of commercial, multifamily and mixed-use real estate throughout the Southeast, with a focus on the major markets in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. In addition to its development and value-add acquisition activity, Ram acquires non-performing and sub-performing mortgages secured by commercial and multifamily properties. Ram has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, Florida, Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia, with its corporate office in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
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Suburban Subaru of Stuart and Ed Vossen are providing EcoArt Treasure Coast's mentor artist, Betsy Damon, with a hybrid Subaru Legacy for her visits to Stuart during the course of her work with the project. "Suburban Subaru of Stuart is proud to be supporting a project that's so strongly linked to the company's responsibility to the global environment," said Ed Vossen, a marketing specialist with the company. "We have a profound understanding that in order to protect our air, land, and water, we must go beyond just meeting the minimum environmental laws and regulations, and establish partnerships with those organizations, businesses, and customers who embrace our company's values."
Our Collaborator: South Florida Environmental Art Project
SFEAP MISSION: To catalyze the emergence of South Florida as a major center for the practice of ECOART.
For more information, please go to sfeap.org, or contact Mary Jo Aagerstoun, Founder/President of SFEAP, Inc. mjaagerstoun@sfeap.org or 561-881-5658
Ecoart Treasure Coast attracted hundreds of people to a four-day symposium in April 2009. Artists, business professionals, government officials and local citizens learned about the Ecoart movement and its application on the Treasure Coast. Audiences gathered at locations around Martin County to hear speakers, watch documentaries and participate in panel discussions. Here are some photos from those events.
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Produced by the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin Counties, this video clip provides a full overview of the EcoArt Treasure Coast project from launch through to the creation of an ecoart project in Martin County.
