Plastic bottles gather into a whirlpool of destructive force – that is the environmental message that Ms. Jane Ingram Allen wants to convey in her installation artwork, “Still Water.”
The work was exhibited during Ms. Allen’s three-week stay as artist in residence at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (KdMoFA) between November 26 and December 16.
An American sculptor, installation artist and hand papermaker, whose works are focused on environmental issues, Ms. Allen created “Still Water” with the help of more than 20 sophomore students from the Department of Fine Arts.
Using non-toxic dye and recycled paper pulp mixed with flower seeds, they molded almost 200 “plastic” bottles, and arranged them in the shape of a whirlpool to signify the damage that the over-use of plastic bottles is doing to our planet.
But these paper-made bottles, unlike the real plastic ones that they mimicked, will deteriorate over time, returning to nature and sowing the seeds in the soil where they may bloom into flowers.
In 2004 Ms. Allen received a Fulbright Scholar Award for a six-month research project on hand papermaking in Taiwan. Her Fulbright grant was extended through July 2005 with sponsorship by the Taiwan government’s Council for Cultural Affairs.
Her previous stay in Taiwan is documented in “Made in Taiwan – an American Papermaking Artist’s Journey Around Taiwan,” a book about her artwork and residencies in 14 different communities making paper art from 135 different plants of Taiwan.