Clarence Valley families could use up to 20 pieces of single use plastic (SUP) in a day. By the time lunches are packed and cereal eaten, the dog and cat fed and you have enjoyed pasta for dinner there’s a lot of waste that can’t be recycled.

The Gallery has joined forces with Sydney artists Goldberg Aberline Studios (GAS) to call attention to the amount of single use plastics used in day-to-day life, and encourage people to reconsider their relationship to waste. The NOW+ Project is a year-long campaign to raise awareness of single use plastics and create a sculptural wave of change. The community can get involved in the project by collecting single use plastics throughout the year. The first collection will be during the plunge Art & Culture festival where people can bring their SUP’s to a council drop off point between March 17 and 27.  

Niomi Sands, Gallery director said “we want people to participate in using this non-recyclable material to create artwork and see beauty in the discarded by giving it another life. These materials will be used later to create usable products, closing the loop”

Community members can join local artists and the GAS team in three free workshops being held during the plunge Festival and be part of this environmental, public art experience. People will use these plastics to create artworks which will be used to manufacture inflatable sculptures and displayed in the new Grafton Regional Gallery in February 2021.

As an organisation, the Gallery is challenging all Council offices to collect their plastics and encourages other business to get involved. Clarence Valley schools will have the chance to win a pack of art supplies by supporting the project and collecting single use plastics at their school.

SUP collections points between March 17 and 27:

Clarence Valley libraries: Yamba, Iluka, Maclean and Grafton; Grafton Regional Gallery and Treelands Drive Community Centre Yamba; Yamba Art Space and Clarence Valley Council offices in Prince Street, Grafton and River Street, Maclean.

Free community workshops: 

Friday April 3 (11am – 6pm) Yamba Art Space, Wooli St Yamba

Saturday April 4 (10am – 3pm) Grafton Shoppingworld, Grafton

Sunday April 5 (10am – 2pm) Environmental Learning Facility, Armidale Road, Grafton

RSVP to all workshops via Eventbrite. Search NOW+ Project

More information can be found on the Grafton Regional Gallery Facebook page.