IA: COUPLE CREATES ART TO ADDRESS WATER CRISIS
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CUMMING, Iowa (KCCI) — Activism and finding ways to help fellow Iowans both play a role in the artwork of Edward Kelley and Emily Newman. They both work in the art department at Drake University and are married with two children.
For America 250 Declarations, the couple proposed creating a quilt that addresses water quality issues. Made with contained algae, the quilt filters out the nitrates from the water around it.
Fred and Charlotte Hubbell funded the project through Group Creative Services.
The piece is titled “It’s in the Water.” It was made out of recycled plastic pieced together, a process that dumpsters, Facebook Marketplace and volunteers all helped with.
Science also played a big role in the process.
“There’s numerous studies that show that algae remediates wastewater and collects carbon at a large scale, and can function,” said Kelley, a sculpture technician at Drake University.
So, they put that in a bucket, and soon realized it was also collecting nitrogen and nitrates.
“So, as the water is entering, it’s taking up nitrates and phosphorus,” Kelley said. “And as it grows, it’s taking carbon. And then it releases that cleaner water back into the larger substrate.”
“I think more and more people are understanding that we have water quality issues in Iowa, and we just want to call attention to it even further through any means that we can,” Newman said.
The quilt is open to the public at Wilson’s Orchard in Cumming for anyone to see until mid-September. Edward and Emily have another project coming up called Climate Beacon, which starts showing at Drake University by the end of the month.
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