Saturday-Monday, July 27-29, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Join visiting artist Kim Bernard in a DIY recycling project and turn trash into art. Participants will clean, shred, and extrude #2 plastic milk and water jugs into colorful collaborative sculptural installation for all to enjoy.

Together, we will plant a climate-resilient future, upcycling plastic into flowers in the colors of “warming stripes.” Climate scientist Professor Ed Hawkins created these stripes as a powerful visual representation of how temperatures have increased around the world since the Industrial Revolution. Guests of the Gardens will be able to make a recycled plastic flower, plant it in the Learning Garden in the Alfond Children’s Garden, and learn about what they can do in their communities to help keep our planet healthy.

Participation in this event is included in the price of admission. No registration is required.

Learn more about “warming stripes”: ‘Climate stripes’ graphics show U.S. trends by state and county | NOAA Climate.gov

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Artist Bio:

Kim Bernard creates sculptures that are recycled, kinetic, interactive, public, and involve the community. She creates installations upcycled out of trash and is currently focusing on transforming plastic waste into sculptures using her portable recycling machines. She shows her work nationally and has been invited to participate in many exhibits, some of which include the Portland Museum of Art, Currier Museum of Art, Fuller Craft Museum, Harvard University, Art Complex Museum, and UNH Museum of Art. Her work has been reviewed in the Boston Globe, Art News, and Art New England. Bernard is the recipient of the Artist Advancement Grant, Kindling Fund Grant, NEFA grant, 6 Maine Arts Commission Grants as well as funding from the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. She was an artist-in-residence in the Physics Department at Harvard University and at the University of New England. She received her BFA from Parsons in 1987 and her MFA from Mass Art in 2010. Bernard teaches at the Maine College of Art, Colby College, and regionally as a visiting artist.