On April 20, an Eco-Art Festival at Lake Herrick in Athens showcased art pieces created collaboratively between UGA researchers and artists focused upon key environmental issues. Graduate students Alli Hofner, shown at left, and Elizabeth Wrobel, students in the GS Lead program, co-organized the event.

“My main takeaway from the event is that there are so many people interested in talking about environmental issues in Athens. We had multiple artists and researchers willing to dedicate their time and expertise for this event. My main goal for the event was to provide an avenue for important and complex scientific topics to be translated into thought-provoking art pieces that the public wanted to learn about. I really think this event achieved that, we had many members of the public come to the event to learn more about environmental stewardship!” says Wrobel.

The GS Lead program is funded by the National Science Foundation and developed by the UGA Graduate School.

Photos: (From left to right)

1. Katie Horne, Alli Hofner, Alex Munroy, Elizabeth Wrobel, Savannah Simmons
2. Ben wears a hat constructed out of plastic bottles.
3. PhD student Kristen Lear with Arrow. Lear helps young students recreate a echolocation exercise.
4. Festival goers check out the Sustainability display.
5. A young participant makes a monkey out of discarded trash items.
6. Crop and Soil Science professor David Radcliff explains the art and science behind the painting to Alexie McPhearson.
7. The Insect Zoo was one of the many booths and exhibits found on the trail around Lake Herrick.
8. Amphibian photo art by Erin Cork on the Lake Herrick Trail
9. A close-up of Paula Reynaldi’s artwork on trees as part of the “Bosque Series” or “Wood Series”. Reynaldi uses masking tape on trees to create an outdoor installation.  “I prefer to work outdoors.  In the outdoors, my art is just a tiny integrated part of nature, as I envision the position of humans in the world.”
10. Artwork on trees by Paula Reynaldi as part of the “Bosque Series” or “Wood Series”.
11. Taylor Nchako (intern for Keep Athens Beautiful) participates in a community art painting.
12. Nchako looks at poster on Lake Herrick’s avian residents located on one of Lake Herrick trails during the Eco-Art Festival
13. Katie Dorris looks at a painting created by Sydney Wright. Wright “created 2 paintings connected through plastic bags to show the transfer of micro plastics from our freshwater sources to our tap water while also conveying a message of pollution.”
14. Trash Music. Musicians using instruments made from trash are from left to right –  Kelly Catlin, Kathryn Koopman, Britt Brock, Ciyadh Wells, Cole Dziedrick .
15. Indonesian artist, Made Bayak, creates a personal sculpture about plastic suffocating our planet.