LOOK HERE! Paper Baggin’ It

SACKS BRING FOOD TO FOLKS IN NEW WAY

By Sara Sullivan

Friday, November 20, 2009

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Alot of times in life, seemingly unrelated occurrences or experiences - sometimes years and great distances apart - will connect and combine - sometimes suddenly - into an entirely new creation.

And oftentimes, the world is all the better for it.

Like the fact that Dede Peters had served on several nonprofit boards in the past and was familiar with trying to come up with fundraising ideas. And that she had been inspired to consider different media for art after seeing an exhibit made out of kraft paper and a favorite 15-year-old’s self-portrait on a pizza box. And that she had recently begun following Ed Nicholson, Tyson Foods’ director of community and public relations, on Twitter and was reading his postings about hunger.

Peters decided that selling artworks made from paper grocery bags would make a great fundraiser for a food pantry. She just wasn’t sure which one.

So she sent Nicholson a message on Facebook, the social networking Web site, and asked for his opinion. He suggested the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

“And he said, ‘Oh, and by the way, Tyson would love to be involved, too,’” Peters says.

Tyson Foods offered to match 5 pounds of food for every dollar raised by “Project Feed Local,” which will remain up at Peters’ art gallery, ddp gallery in Fayetteville, through Saturday.

About 50 artists were given as many paper grocery bags as they wanted and challenged to do their artsy thing.

In addition to several works that use the bag in place of a canvas, artists produced resincovered jewelry, sculptures of a rabbit and a wing, papier mache teapots and wax-coated shreds of calamari, among other things

“I was really surprised by what people turned in,” Peters says. “It’s pretty cool.”

Each work is being sold for $60; $40 of that will be donated to the food bank, while $10 each will go to the artist and the gallery.

The project has been really fun, Peters says, and the support from the community has been great. There are about 60 pieces in the collection (some artists made more than one), and fewer than 10 are still for sale.

That means “Project Feed Local” has already raised $2,000 and 10,000 pounds of food.

Which goes to show “that a seemingly small idea can make a significant impact,” Peters says.

Will the fundraiser become an annual event?

“We’ll see,” Peters says with a laugh.

In addition to the paper bag creations, “Project Feed Local” also features a handful of decorated “Keep Fayetteville Funky” mugs, the sale of which will benefit the Fayetteville Independent Business Alliance. The mugs are in support of America Unchained, which calls for community members to not shop at any chain store all day Saturday and instead spend their dollars at locally owned businesses.

Like ddp gallery.

Entertainment, Pages 27 on 11/20/2009

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