Don’t Drink the Water
A community artist and a South Providence neighborhood will help raise awareness about a health hazard in the community while designing a series of informational signs through a partnership between three state agencies.
Warwick, Rhode Island-based artist Holly Ewald has been commissioned by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts to create a series of informational signs warning residents of the South Providence neighborhood near Mashapaug Pond off Adelaide Ave. about the dangers of swimming and fishing in the pond. The pond has contained unsafe levels of dioxins and PCBs for years—the State Arts Council is working in collaboration with the Rhode Island Departments of Health and Environmental Management on this project to help educate community members and youth of the danger.
I have to ask—wouldn’t the money be better spent on cleaning up the pond? Community awareness about health hazards is definitely a positive step, and I am glad to see that a South Providence neighborhood is getting attention from state agencies and artists, but I think this needs to be taken a step further.
A recent press release gave details of the project. According to Randall Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, the challenge was to design informational signs for such a diverse community, where many people may not read English proficiently. “Commissioning an artist to design signs that non-readers would understand made perfect sense,” said Rosenbaum. “And using an artist like Holly Ewald, who works in ways that involve community members in the design process made this into an exciting project for the people of this area.”
As part of Ewald’s process she invited residents from the neighborhoods surrounding the pond to create images. Students in a Graphic Design Class at Adelaide High School and a sixth grade class at Charles Fortes Elementary School heard a presentation by DEM and Health Department representatives about the health of the pond. They made silkscreen posters with artists Andrew Oesch and Ewald to share their reflections about the pond. They will carry these posters in a procession along side children in fish costumes made with artists Jennifer Rice and Ewald in workshops held at Wat Thormikaram, the Buddhist Temple in South Providence.
Ewald plans to generate community interest in a number of creative ways, including staging a procession through the South Providence neighborhood. “After attending public meetings about the environmental issues effecting Mashapaug Pond I realized we needed to do something interactive on the street to reach the groups who were reluctant to come to meetings,” said Ewald. “A festive procession would be a good way to get information to more people.”
The community procession is scheduled to take place on Saturday June 7th at 9:00am, with a rain date on Sunday, June 8th at 9:00am. The procession will begin at Wat Thormikarma, the southeast asian Buddhist Temple at 177-179 Hanover Street in South Providence, and will head south on Bucklin Street to Charles Fortes Elementary School 234 Daboll St., to Adelaide High School 375 Adelaide Ave., along the east side of Mashapaug Pond and end at the Mashapaug Pond Community Boating Center behind the Joblot on Resevoir Ave.
Participating in the procession will be the Adelaide High School Graphic Design Class, Charles Fortes Elementary School 6, and Holly Ewald, community artist.
The public is invited to participate. For more information contact artist Holly Ewald at hewald@cox.net.
Photo Credits: Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
