Susan Bercu
Community Activities
Cast-Offs & Masks
ArtSurround of Creative Sonoma* provided the grants to fund these vital community interactive events. The intention is to create awareness around energy consumption and over-consumerism where our cast-offs are sent to the landfill. Everyone was invited to incorporate the collected plastic and metal waste for their new artistic lives in a collaborative hands-on creative project.
*CreativeSonoma is a division of the Sonoma County Economic Development Board dedicated to supporting and advancing the creative community of Sonoma County.
Helen Petaluma Putnam Plaza
As a recipient of the ArtSurround artist grant, I facilitated the “Cast-Offs” interactive activities in Putnam Plaza in September 2022 and again in April 2023. The public engaged in creating the Cast-Offs streamers, which were hung from the trees in the Plaza. My cohort, Cinda Gilliland guided the project from working with the city to establish the space to giving support.
Children's Museum of Sonoma County
The Museum received a grant from Creative Sonoma to hold events that created awareness around our waste and energy consumption.
Cast-Offs Streamers
The museum invited me as the featured artist to lead children and families in creating Cast-offs streamers from discarded plastics and other junk. We gathered in the Redwood Grove where under these majestic trees, we attached the various materials to braided plastic ropes and hung them from the branches.
Masks
Since I make wall masks using recycled materials, I was invited by the museum to facilitate a mask-making workshop. Children and families enthusiastically used the donated baskets and discarded junk to create face masks and other objects. Recology Sonoma Marin offered complimentary activities to expand our awareness of over-consumption.