Belper Goes Green – Blooming Junk Community Arts Project
‘Roses are red, Violets are blue, can you make a recycled flower or two!’
As part of the festival we are hoping to create a sea of recycled flowers to decorate the field. This display will be a reminder to people about how much waste is being thrown away and the amount of plastic that is being used in packaging. The eco flowers will demonstrate the use of sustainable materials as an alternative.
These flowers will be made from junk recycled objects and sustainable or eco materials.
For example they could be made from plastic bottles, crisp packets, flexible body wash tubes. The eco ones could be made from clay, glass, wool, felt, or willow. We want people to have fun creating their own flowers and bring them along to the festival to display and brighten up the field.
Leading up to the event we are inviting shops, schools, businesses, artists, in fact anyone – to make flowers. Towards the end of May we will invite shops to display the flowers in their windows to bring awareness to the festival. Fliers and posters will be handed out in a few weeks time.
We need lots of these to give it the wow factor. So please get creating!
There will be a community flower workshop for the public on May 21st 10-3, venue to be confirmed, but in Belper town centre (small donation fee to cover costs of materials). They can bring their displays to the festival.
If you want to keep up to date on events related to this please join our Facebook page – ‘Blooming Junk, Blooming Rubbish!’
Any questions just get in touch with Emma Parkins or Nancy Ferret.
I was invited to join Emma Parkins of Junky Monkey in the making of the junk flowers for Belper goes green. As a local artist, a half of local arts organisation, Baba Lula Arts and also as an early years practitioner, I loved the idea of taking this idea to the local toy libraries where any parents with small children can come and take part.
The children will make recycled junk flowers for the Belper Goes Green festival and get to enjoy seeing their creations on show amid everybody else’s and they will also learn about rubbish, how much we throw away, how we could use it creatively instead or perhaps use less in the first place.
Parents and other members of the community are being asked to save anything such as bread bags, crisp packets, fruit shoot bottles & frube wrappers. The more junk we save, the more flowers we will have in our garden at the festival! If anyone with small children would like to get involved, I will be running the flower making activity at most of our toy library sites throughout May. Dates will be confirmed on the Derbyshire Toy Library facebook page, Baba Lula Arts facebook page and Junky Monkey facebook page.