Bobbi Mastrangelo’s Art and Community Involvement focus on Caring for Our Planet Earth. This is the First Blog in a three part series on EARTH CARE.

“When the People Care”

Why would anyone want to incorporate litter into an art work? When Bobbi Mastrangelo began her manhole cover art theme, she used to sweep the litter off the manhole covers before taking photos or doing rubbings. Well, the truth is that adding litter called attention to the treatment of our streets and our Planet Earth. So she composed this poem and embossed it into her hand made paper.

By now, you probably know that Mastrangelo’s art theme is based on Manhole Covers, Water Covers, Grates and Drains. Not only does her art document the visual history of our streets, but it carries an Environmental Message as well: To Conserve and Protect Our Precious Resources.

She created a walk around assemblage: “People Start Pollution: People Can Stop It.”

People Start Pollution	Part One: Cigarette Butt Litter. Cigarette butts are being dumped from a car ash tray. Cigarette butts are actually cellulose acetate, which is man made and doesn’t biodegrade. Light weight butts easily get caught up in runoff from storms. Tons of butts land in open spaces posing a health problem for birds and other wildlife for up to 12 years. The cumulative effect of these toxic chemicals can pollute water.
Medical Waste Pollution	Part Two: Simulated Medical Waste. Mastrangelo used port wine and catsup to simulate the dried blood, but the waste looked so convincing that a mother pulled her son away from the assemblage, scolding:. “Don’t touch that! You will get a disease!”
	Part Three: People Can Stop Pollution. They will clean littered areas or better yet provide waste cans, paint and plant to improve environments. The Keep America Beautiful Symbol is displayed on the waste can. Water Valve Covers are incorporated in the bases of One and Three.
Pollution Solution

“Water?”

Mastrangelo also expressed concerns with conserving water in her sculptures and works on hand made papers. Ten of her “Water Cover” works are featured on the website of WEAD (Women Environmental Artists Directory). Her “Grate works of Art” have been exhibited in many important venues from Water Authorities in NY State to Florida, The New York Hall of Science, “Listen to the Earth” at Hamilton College and “Best of the Best” at the Mayor’s Gallery City Hall, Orlando in 2014.  

Bobbi Mastrangelo has garnered many prizes for her art, but she is especially proud to have been one of the eleven finalists for the  first-ever Environmental Art Prize sponsored by the NRDC National Resources Defense Council for the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Earth Day. http://www.nrdc.org/nabicontest/