22.02.12

Painters, sculptors and textile artists are helping to clean up an Indiana County creek by turning a water pollutant into works of art.

Artists from Pennsylvania to as far away as Texas used orange iron-oxide pigment collected from the Tanoma Abandoned Mine Discharge site near Clymer to tint glaze, paint and fabric. The donated artwork is up for auction until Dec. 7 to raise money for the Evergreen Conservancy and the Indiana Arts Council, which partnered on the project.

The items — nine mixed-media pieces, four vases, two bowls, two trays, garden stakes and a hat, scarf, mug, birdhouse, basket and dyed wool yarn — are on display during the silent auction at Michael B Shoes on Philadelphia Street in Indiana. Minimum bids start at $10, but at least one bid has already reached $100.

Rebecca Slak, executive director of the Indiana Arts Council, said a group in northeastern Pennsylvania started a similar initiative with iron oxide.

"At Indiana Arts Council, the mission is about creating access to the arts, so creating avenues and ways for those of us who live in Indiana County to have music or visual arts or theater ... moves into our lives," Slak said.

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review