FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2020
Fine Artist Amanda McCauley Opens Pop-Up Show Warning Signs! in Iconic Flower District
Artist Amanda McCauley partners w/ Plastic Pollution Coalition to exhibit new series highlighting craft, conservation, and the environment
New York – Mixed media artist Amanda McCauley, best known for her botanical collage, brings her latest series Warning Signs! to New York’s iconic Flower District on the eve of the state’s ban on single-use plastic bags. The pop-up, in partnership with the Plastic Pollution Coalition and the 5 Gyres Institute, calls attention to the overwhelming presence of plastic waste in our oceans and celebrates the ban by showcasing the natural world. Combining unexpected compositions with a masterful use of organic materials, McCauley sets herself apart as an artist breaking the rules of traditional flower pressing as well as the means through which we engage art.
McCauley works exclusively with natural materials, often harvesting and foraging large varieties of local flora. These are repurposed through a variety of techniques and experimentations as she continues to elevate elements of craft and expand into installation art. As an independent artist, McCauley forges her own path through fine art and folk art, graphic design and floral design, connecting with everyday people through work that brings us closer to the environments we all share.
On Lopez Island, Washington, where her art practice was born and where she resides part-time, McCauley runs her studio, The Barn, promoting sustainable art practices, locally sourced materials, farm communities, composting and recycling. Now, she is taking the overall spirit of fine-art crafting and the outdoors to NYC with Warning Signs! Through her striking visual warnings about the fragility of the environment, McCauley’s new pop-up offers a vision of a plastic-free ocean and humankind’s role in the ecosystem.
By partnering with Plastic Pollution Coalition and 5 Gyres Institute, McCauley invites viewers to learn how plastic poisons our food chain, affects our health, and how every piece of plastic ever created still exists on our planet. Warning Signs! is conceived as a warning about the harmful effects of plastic not only in our oceans but throughout every facet of modern life, especially with the ongoing realities of climate change. However, it is also a celebration of the natural world, the plastic ban in NYC, and the efforts of the Plastic Pollution Coalition and 5 Gyres Institute to reduce our dependence on a synthetic material that is threatening the preservation of the world we all share.
5 Gyres Institute will be sending ambassadors to the event with swag from their organization. There will also be music, wine, and a makeshift tequila bar. The first twenty people to arrive will receive a custom canvas tote bag and stickers featuring McCauley’s artwork from the show.
Pop-Up Details
Saturday Feb. 29: 6 pm – 10 pm
Sunday March 1: 12 pm – 4 pm
117 W. 28th St (between 6th & 7th)
New York, NY 10001
More about Amanda McCauley
Amanda McCauley is a mixed media artist who splits her time between NYC and Lopez Island, Washington, where she runs her studio, The Barn. McCauley translates her graphic design background into a distinctive artistic technique, using preserved, pressed flora as the palate for highly original botanical collages. A self-described rule breaker, McCauley continually strives to work outside of any one genre. Through workshops, she empowers communities to be more hands-on with their surroundings. McCauley often donates a significant portion of her work to the many causes she supports on both coasts. Her works are held in private collections across the country.
More about Plastic Pollution Coalition
Plastic Pollution Coalition is a global alliance of more than 1,000 organizations, businesses, and thought leaders working toward a world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impact on humans, animals, waterways, oceans, and the environment. Take the Pledge to REFUSE single-use plastic here or donate here.
More about 5 Gyres Institute
5 Gyres Institute is a leader in the movement against plastic pollution. Founded in 2009, the 5 Gyres Institute is a nonprofit organization that has taken 19 research expeditions in all 5 subtropical gyres as well as many of the world’s lakes and rivers in search of plastic. In 2017, they received special consultative status with the United Nations Economic Social Council.
