Recycled Art Competition Returns

By Nancy K. Crevier

“Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent” is the motto of the Second Annual Recycled Art Earth Day Competition hosted by owner Rob Kaiser at Mocha Coffeehouse on Glen Road in Sandy Hook Center, and Mr Kaiser has already completed his entry for this year, “Green Man II.”

Constructed of dried grasses, bark, and burlap on a recycled plastic milk carton base, “Green Man II” is already posted on the deck of Mocha, right next to last year’s original “Green Man,” constructed of recycled plastic. “I can see ‘Green Man’ being a continuing series for me,” said Mr Kaiser. “As a symbol, the ‘Green Man’ is a rich image that is bold, and incorporates vegetative myths. I think he is a good image for Earth Day, as well,” said Mr Kaiser. “I think ‘Green Man’ speaks of our ties to nature, but is still somewhat foreboding and wild.”

The Recycled Art Competition will hopefully make use of items that would otherwise end up trashed and also promote the talents and visions of artists in and around Newtown. “There’s an incredible source of creativity here in town,” Mr Kaiser said. “There’s a huge untapped resource. I think this Recycled Art Competition gives people the opportunity to do a little something creative,” he said.

Last year’s entries were mainly from Mocha staff people and regulars at the coffeehouse, said Mr Kaiser, but he hopes that he will see more entries this year from the community at large, as well as from school children.

The idea of a recycled art contest evolved from his days as an employee at Holmes Fine Garden Center on Route 6, confronting the problem of what to do with unrecyclable plastic plant pots. “I actually made a few mask-type constructions from them,” he said. “That idea has remained important to me. So when I opened Mocha, I wanted to do something to piggyback with the Clean Energy Task Force and their ‘Go Green’ Earth Day Celebration. The Recycled Art Earth Day Competition is an idea that I hope has ‘legs’ and we will be able to grow each year,” Mr Kaiser said.

Entries must be constructed of at least 70 percent recycled, weather-resistant materials. Masks, birdhouses, kinetic sculpture, and any other creative interpretation may be entered in the contest. The creations will be mounted on the riverfront deck of Mocha Coffeehouse and the winner will be selected by public ballot, announced Wednesday, April 22, the date of the original grassroots nationwide Earth Day first celebrated in the US in 1970.

Mr Kaiser said that he is encouraged by a renewed interest in Earth Day in recent years. “It ties together so many different elements — clean energy, stewardship, a sense of community,” he said.

Submissions will be accepted at Mocha beginning April 1 and continue until April 17. All items will be available for sale with 25 percent of the proceeds to be donated to the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission. There is no entry fee.

Best in Show will receive a gift basket from Well Baskets on Glen Road and the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission, containing many Earth Day-related goodies, VIP passes for the Connecticut Film Festival screening on April 25 by the Cultural Arts Commission, and passes to the Flagpole Radio Café.

Entry forms are available at Mocha Coffeehouse and online at mochacoffeehouse.com.