The Mercer County Library System has announced the dates for its 15th Annual TrashedArt Contest. The contest celebrates Earth Day by encouraging patrons to turn ordinary trash into extraordinary art. The library will accept artwork starting Wednesday, February 28, 2024 through Wednesday, March 6, 2024. Accepted artwork will be on display at Mercer County Library System branches throughout the month of March and April. Adults and teens (ages 14 and up) who live, work or go to school in Mercer County are eligible to participate. Contest entry forms and information are available online at www.mcl.org/events/trashedart.
Entries must be original artwork, no larger than 2.5′ by 2.5′ by 2.5′ and no heavier than 10 pounds. Any art medium is acceptable, as long as a minimum of 75% recycled content is used. Some examples of recycled content include metals, paper, rubber, glass (but no sharp shards), plastic and cloth. The contest is limited to one entry per artist. Please see https://mcl.org/events/trashedart/ for details. The Mercer County Library System will not be held responsible for any damage, theft or loss to art entries.
The Grand Prize winners in first, second and third place for adults, first place in a special student category, and People’s Choice award winners will be announced at the TrashedArt Contest Reception at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch on Tuesday, April 23rd at 6:30pm. Entries will be anonymously judged by local artists and representatives of the Mercer County Library System on creativity, originality and artistic merit. Patrons will have a chance to vote for the “People’s Choice” awards in-person at each of the nine branches and virtually on the MCLS website. Please register online for the TrashedArt Reception at www.mcl.org.
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Library Ewing Branch, Friends of the Hickory Corner Library, Friends of the Hopewell Library, Friends of the Lawrence Library, and Friends of the West Windsor Library. The Friends help support programs at the library branches, including the Summer Reading Program.
For more information about the TrashedArt Contest and all the library’s programs and events, please visit www.mcl.org.
Feature Photo: TrashedArt 2018 Winners (left to right): Ashley Fried’s “Taking from the Earth” 1st place student winner, Michele Ben-Asher’s “April” 2nd place adult winner, Linda DuBrow’s “Manhattan Skyline and Brooklyn Bridge” 1st place adult winner, Connie Cruser’s “Spring Blossoms” 3rd place adult winner, Pritika Gulati’s “Pani” 2nd place student winner, Robert Caivano’s “Flint phone with mouse-cage charging station” People’s Choice winner, and Abby Kelvy’s “Earth” 3rd place student winner. Patrons will have a chance to vote for the “People’s Choice” awards in-person at each of the nine branches and virtually on the MCLS website.
