Paper (n)Or Plastic

Last Friday was the opening of an art exhibit called Paper (n)Or Plastic at the Gualala Arts Center (in Gualala, CA).  Harmony (of Harmony Arts Fabrics--see sidebar) and I co-curated this show, working to promote the idea of using Neither paper nor plastic when shopping.  Yes, re-usable shopping bags are the way to go!!!  And if they are beautiful and artistic, so much the better.  We had some fantastic entries, all shapes and sizes, made of all sorts of materials.  The show will continue through June 7.

The bag above is the one my dear daughter entered.  It's titled "Food For Baby" and features actual handprints from my little granddaughter, BabyStitches.

This is the bag that my mother, MomStitches, sent in for the show.  Beautiful quilt square there, don't you think!

And this is the bag that I entered!  It is made from a worn-out, cast-off

pair of jeans from MisterStitches.  This "haute couture" bag features

three pockets, and a zipper opening!

One of the highlights of the show was the loan of two works of art by Chris Jordan.  One of these extremely large art prints shows gazillions (I'm sure of that number--I counted them!) of plastic shopping bags.  The other one shows approximately the same number (give or take) of paper bags.  Check out his website and see all his amazing photos.  Really makes one stop and think about all the garbage we create.

Another highlight was a visit by Teresa, aka The Green Bag Lady.  (Her website is on my sidebar.)  Teresa is a fantastic woman who makes fabric re-usable shopping bags and gives them away:  all over the country, all over the world, all for free.  She brought 101 bags with her and gave them all away.  When you check out her website you can see that she records every bag given away, and keeps track of where each one goes.