Blown away by Blue Wrap !

Hospital Blue Wrap

Portland's Blue Wrap Project was the brain child of Scarborough-based Partners for World Health's  Elizabeth McEllen, it is her organization that takes discarded hospital supplies that are still usable (and often have never been opened from their original packaging) and distribute them to health-care facilities in the developing world.

Blue wrap is a disposal synthetic fabric that is used by hospitals in the states to wrap medical instruments before placing them in a sterilizer. Once the items come out of the sterilizer, "the blue wrap is removed and thrown in the trash.The concept of recycle this hospital waste material into fashion and money was innovative at best but little did we know that the project would spawn an unforeseen level of excitement in Portland's creative community.
 The call to action went out and artists and designers agreed to take the recycled blue wrap material and create some form of  blue-wrap fashion items for the show.  Artists at the University of Southern Maine, the Maine College of Art, Southern Maine Community College, the University of New England, Portland Arts and Technology High School, the Quimby Colony, and several southern Maine area artists/designers participated.

BlueWrap by designer Sue Hammerland

The Portland Museum of Art hosted the fashion show and by all account was the place to be on the cold March evening.  Raising over $10,000 dollars and awareness of the need for medical equipment over seas the Blue Wrap project exceeded expectations in every category.

Now if you missed the event in March you have a chance to experience the works of  Portland's creative community at The Lewis gallery now though the end of August,  the creations from the fashion show are displayed in the exhibit " the Blue Wrap project".

Why go see the Blue Wrap Project at the Portland Library Lewis gallery?

Go because your good mind needs good art!

 

The Gallery Talk is made possible by the generosity of the WMPG Radio listening community.  The blog is the text version of the art rant heard every Thursday at 7am, 5 & 9:30pm on WMPG college and community radio Broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine
90.9 , 104.1 and streaming on the web at http://www.wmpg.org/  

PS: For more photos of all the works please click on this link to Photographer Mark Rockwood's gallery

http://www.backprint.com/bluewrapprojectrunway