Bottle Bass and WindPower Flower Tower Art Installations

(October, 2008, Riverhead, NY) Just when you think that the environmentally conscious Aquebogue ART T.E.A.M. (which is an acronym for “Together Everyone Achieves More") can’t beat what they did last year, THEY DO IT AGAIN! The school’s quirky Bottlebug was followed by a beautiful ocean mural made with sea glass, ceramic chips, sea shells and other beach-related materials. Last year, concerned about global warming, the central project was a family of polar bears dubbed the "polybears" because they were made from recycled plastic bags. Once again this year, teaming with local artists, Marta Baumiller and Cliff Baldwin, Aquebogue art teacher Maureen Ahern and plenty of parent volunteers are going to work with the students in this K-4 school to create NOT ONE but TWO art installations. The installation will take place October 21 through October 31, 2008. The projects were made possible by a New York State Council on the Arts grant.

Aquebogue's courtyards will soon host two new amazing full-scale sculpture installations from the art T.E.A.M. In one courtyard 180 students will create a large outdoor sculpture of a fish made with recycled detergent bottles--a Bottle Bass. Students will collect over 500 detergent bottles to assemble this sculpture. The finished piece itself will be recycled at the end of the school year; thereby, insuring no waste.

The second courtyard will engage 250 student artists who will create 130 wind sculpture turbines. The students will learn about how wind surrounds us every day and provides a source of clean energy. With an emphasis on aesthetics, each turbine will be unique and handmade by the students themselves.

"These projects have received national recognition," notes Aquebogue Principal Phil Kent. "Similar to our Bottlebug project (a huge caterpillar made out of large recycled detergent bottles), which was featured on the coveted cover of the children's magazine, Scholastic News, the publisher displayed pictures of the Polybear project in their April 2008 Earth Day issue. This year's projects are TWICE as exciting!"


Please see attached website for additional information: www.polybear.org.

# # # #

Related Links: News Review Article (November, 2008); Bottle Bug and Every Day is Earth Day at Aquebogue