Scroll down for a series of images that document the collaborative process I facilitated to create an art exhibit about the health of the New River at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, North Carolina in 2016.

My sustainability and the arts class at Appalachian State University worked with the New River Conservancy, additional community groups, and curator Mary Anne Redding to install a river of trash collected from the river in the art gallery.  These photos explain how the project developed.

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Collecting trash from the river with the Mountain Alliance, a local youth group.
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Sorting trash on the riverbank
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Community members wrote poems and then placed their poems in jars of river water.
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Curator Mary Anne Redding and student Kelsey Wagner organize the river trash
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Students Kelsey Wagner and Sammi Eubanks start to install the river of trash
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Overview of river trash installation
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Detail of river trash installation.
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Microscopic and Macroscopic photography by Tom Hansell
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View through the gallery windows
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The entrance to the exhibit

Tom Hansell 2016