EARTH DAY at the MATTRESS FACTORY

The natural world, including human beings, is connected through a sacred energy.  When you walk through the woods or a beautiful garden you are connected to this wonderful energy. Earth Day helps us to remember this and to realize that we must protect and take care of our natural environment. Art can represent the spirit and beauty of the natural world by exactly replicating nature (such as photography and certain painting processes) or through more conceptual art, representing the spirit or ideas of the artist such as Winifred Lutz’ Garden at the Mattress Factory. With this in mind, we are planning plenty of Earth-friendly events to celebrate Earth Day!  

Earth Day at the Mattress Factory will take place Saturday, April 6, 2013. The museum will host three special events: Backyard Composting, Water & You: How Rain Gardens Clean & Protect the Environment and Art Lab: From Herbs to Art.  

Backyard Composting will be held from 10am to noon. Not sure what to do with your kitchen, garden and yard scraps? Would you like natural, home-made compost for your lawns and gardens? Expand your recycling efforts to include kitchen scraps and yard debris. Nancy Martin-Silver of the Pennsylvania Resource Council--who taught the Rain Barrel workshop, “Celebrate the Rain!” last fall--returns to present this workshop. Backyard Composting will cover the importance and benefits of composting, the process of setting up a compost pile, proper maintenance, and ways of using finished compost. Participants will receive an Earth Machine Compost Bin, which is approved across the state as an ideal bin for urban and suburban areas, and has an eighty-gallon capacity. Registration is required and costs $50 single/$55 couple (includes one compost unit per registration). Sign up at www.prc.org or call (412) 488-7490, ext. 226. 

Water & You: How Rain Gardens Clean and Protect the Environment will follow the Backyard Composting workshop. Free with museum admission, Water & You will be hosted by The Urban Gardeners, the local and creative North Side gardening center and artists. The Urban Gardeners are not strangers to the Mattress Factory: in 2009, they created a beautiful site-specific living plant installation, Lawn, outside the entrance to 1414 Monterey Street. We are thrilled to have them back to lead this interactive demonstration about the significance of rain gardens and how they aid in naturally protecting our environments. The Urban Gardeners will also discuss what watersheds are and how they function in rain gardens. The Urban Gardeners will provide useful information about how to build and maintain your own rain garden so we all can do our part in saving the environment. 

Art Lab: From Herbs to Art is the final installment of Earth Day at the Mattress Factory and will take place from 1pm-4pm. This special ArtLab will be guided by museum educator Rosalind Santavicca. Rosalind will demonstrate the special technique she uses to create watercolor prints of beautiful herbs, plants and flowers. Participants will be able to pick from a selection of herbs, or use leaves from plants in the Mattress Factory’s own urban garden. This is a fun project that can be done at home with your friends and family as well! ArtLab is free with museum admission.

POSTED BY CAITLIN Read All Posts by Caitlin