Upcycle, recycle and go green at the West Orange Arts Center

Photo Courtesy of WOAC
Arshad Aziz repurposes old clothing into stylish fashion pieces.

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Arts Council, in partnership with Luna Stage, presents “Upcycle, Recycle and Go Green Workshop and The Ocean Cleanup Viewing Party” on Saturday, Sept. 8, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the West Orange Arts Center, 551 Valley Road. This multifaceted, interactive program is for all ages and includes designing stylish fashions from old clothing, creating mosaics from broken china, and recycling plastic water bottles into fun and functional new uses. Also being planned is a theatrical book reading and attendees can watch a live-stream deployment of the world’s first ocean cleanup system.

Enjoy repurposed clothing looks for less with Arshad Aziz. Bring your worn jeans, sweaters or any underused or defective garment and redefine and create a stylish fashion statement. Enjoy your own personal style and reduce landfill waste. Aziz incorporates upcycled modern fabrics, taking inspiration from nature with environmental protection themes.

A mosaic art demonstration using shards of china incorporates pieces of broken ceramics and other found objects in the creation of something new.

Learn fun and functional ways to repurpose plastic water bottles, jugs and containers with West Orange Garden Club and Our Green West Orange. Bring your own empty plastic bottle.

Enjoy a reading with Luna Stage of “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind,” a true story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome adversity as a young boy embark on a plan to build a windmill in Malawi with old science textbooks, scrap metal, bicycle parts and tractor parts.

Also, the world’s first ocean cleanup system, estimated to be able to remove 50 percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just five years’ time, will launch through the San Francisco Bay on Sept. 8. The deployment will be shown via live-stream at the West Orange Arts Center to celebrate the event.

Additional activities being planned are face painting, improv, gardening tips and more. For more information, visit www.woarts.org.