Recycle Runway Blog

Recycle Runway Takes-off from the Atlanta Airport Published: 08.08.2012 at 10:43 am by Nancy Judd

I de-installed my Recycle Runway exhibition in the Atlanta International Airport last month and sent it home to Santa Fe– it was sad to say goodbye to such a great venue!

Giving a tour of the exhibition to passengers and airport employees

I first met with the  Atlanta’s Airport Art Program staff, David Vogt and Katherine Dirga, over 5 years ago for 15 minutes in-between flights. They generously agreed to meet at my gate for a quick introduction and look at my portfolio. When they informed me a couple of weeks later that they would like to exhibit my work, I was thrilled because they have curated such a wonderful permanent collection and rotating exhibitions. Also, knowing that ALT is the busiest airport in the WORLD; I was humbled by such an incredible opportunity to reach so many people with my message of environmental stewardship.

We installed the exhibition in May of 2011 (you can read about our midnight adventures in my blog post from May 10, 2011) and we took it down in the second week of July, 2012. Nineteen garments were initially installed in nine cases and an additional three were added to a tenth case that the Airport Art Program installed in January of 2012 in the entrance to the terminal between the escalator and the information desk. The airport estimates that during this time over 15 million passengers passed through Concourse E!

The exhibition was advertised with a 30 second video on the CNN TV monitors located throughout the entire airport. It was seen several times each day that it was aired. Click here to view the video.

The exhibition was generously sponsored by Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, Janome, and Novelis and my Green Partners: Earth911.com, the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Georgia Recycling Coalition, Keep America Beautiful, Keep Georgia Beautiful, the Phoenix Airport Museum and the Turner Foundation.

I was overwhelmed by the number of print and electronic media outlets that covered the exhibition over the 14 months it was on display.

Misc Press Outlets
-USA Today Travel
-CNN

-Yahoo
-NBC/ 11 Alive
-Delta’s Sky Magazine
-Clayton News Daily
-Atlanta Day Book

-Metromix Atlanta

-Future News Network
-Orbiz.com

Blog Posts
-Delta
-Atlanta Airport

-BlueGreen

-Chimeras

-Fashiongraphia

-Stuck at the Airport

-Talking with Tami

FlickR
-Atlanta International Airport
-HaveIgotastory4u’

-FilipinoOnSkis
Websites
-TrendHunter
-Chic Republiq
-Examiner
-Terminal U
-Ecouterre
-PolarTREC

Magazines and Newsletters
-Resource Recycling
-Southern Seasons

-New Mexico Recycling Coalition

-Georgia Recycling Coalition
-Glass Packaging Institute

Pintrist
-Click to view numerous “pins” of the exhibition.
Other Social Media
-FourSquare
-Tumblr

-Twitcsy
-Twyla

There were so many really heart-harming moments for me during this exhibition, here are a few samples:

  • I received several notes from friends who I have not see for over 20 years that came across my exhibition in the Airport and sent photos of their kids in front of favorite garments.
  • An Army Sergeant that flew through Concourse E numerous times while the exhibition was on display wrote to me often. The installation motivated him to contacted the airport to find out how he could help to improve their recycling program.
  • A Grecian hair-dresser saw the exhibition and was inspired to start a trash fashion show in Drama City, Greece, outside the National Bank of Greece.
  • One of the airport employees, Mr. Jones, who buffs the floor at night in Concourse E told me this: “I will be sad to see this exhibition go, I watched a lot of passengers taking photos of it. In fact I took a photo of one of the dresses and showed it to my son. He got inspired and did a recycling project for his middle school class!”

 THANK YOU to everyone that helped to make this exhibition a success!

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What’s next for the Recycle Runway Collection? Last week it began a tour of museums starting with the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. It is also scheduled to be exhibited in the The Bascom Visual Arts and Education Center in North Carolina and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin. If you know of any museums or art centers in your region that might be interested in hosting the exhibition, please let me know!

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