Blue Trees in Norcross? See It This Weekend

Get your paint gear ready because Norcross is asking the community to help turn the trees blue in Thrasher Park and Betty Mauldin Park this weekend.

The city is participating in a social art project known as The Blue Trees, a three-day installation starting Friday, April 5. It involves artists and locals to paint the park's trees an electric blue color with a specially made non-toxic pigment, according to a news release from the city's Public Relations and Marketing Manager Tixie Fowler. The trees will remain a vivid blue for approximately six to seven months before the color naturally fades.

The concept for the project was started by Australian artist Konstantin “Kon” Dimopoulos, who will be in Norcross assisting with the installation. Dimopoulos has transformed the trees in cities such as Melbourne, Vancouver, Seattle and Sacramento. After Norcross, he'll be turning the trees in Albuquerque and possibly New York and Paris.

The Blue Trees project asks the question "Can art save the world?" by calling attention to global deforestation and its impact on Earth. About 32 million acres of forests were converted to other uses or lost to natural causes each year between 2000 and 2010, according to a 2010 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

"Forests are the lungs of the world," said Dimopoulos, emphasizing that society could not survive without trees. 

Norcross has received many awards for its efforts in making the city green and tree-friendly. The city has been named a Tree City USA for seven consecutive years, it's been voted "Best Green Government" By Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, and Norcross also has been recognized with both Silver and Gold Level awards by the Atlanta Regional Commission for the city’s environmental sustainability efforts.

In addition to the trees, Norcross is known for having a dynamic arts community, so The Blue Trees project allows the city to support its local focus on the environment and the arts while being part of a larger global effort.

"This project has all the components of what Norcross is all about – art, environmental awareness, community engagement and doing things a bit 'outside the box,'" said Mayor Bucky Johnson in the news release. "It has been amazing to see how this project has gained momentum and already inspired the imaginations of so many throughout the metro area, and the trees aren’t even painted yet."

Greater Atlanta Christian School, Tree Atlanta, and Savannah College of Art & Design are among the groups participating in The Blue Trees project and will bring a diversity of people to paint the trees, as well as create activities around the project.

Atlanta artist Corrina Sephora Mensoff is creating a “Wish Tree” in Thrasher Park where visitors can actively engage by writing their hopes for the environment, according to the release. Students from SCAD and GAC are filming the installation as class projects, and Tree Atlanta’s Executive Co-Director Greg Levine will be part of a six-member panel discussion that will include Dimopoulos to talk about the project's goals.

The public is invited to paint the trees in Thrasher Park and Betty Mauldin Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, April 5, and Saturday after 10 a.m. The opening night for the project will be later April 6 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Dimopoulos and other artists will be on hand to meet with guests and answer questions.

To read more information on the panel discussion mentioned above and other activities, click here.

Editor's Note: Betty Mauldin Park has been added as one of the locations for the Blue Trees Project.

See also:

• Photo Gallery: Students Help Norcross Co-Op in Empty Bowls Project
• RockTenn Organizes Strawberry Stroll for Third Year
• Water Park Coming to Malibu Grand Prix in Norcross

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