Blowing Rock, NC – Please join the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum along with project artists and collaborators in closing the Trash Trout Picture Show exhibition Tuesday, January 24, at 6 PM in BRAHM’s 
Alexander Community Gallery.
Filmmaker and visual artist Tom Hansell, in collaboration with local river protectors, has spent the last two years salvaging river trash and creating works of art from the refuse collected.
His work with The Watauga Riverkeeper, an essential protector of the Watauga River Watershed, began with the collection of plastic bags and other detritus from a passive stormwater debris collector nicknamed the Trash Trout and culminated in a series of participatory workshops: more than fifty local residents taped trash from the river to 16mm film strips. Similarly, Hansell worked with the New River Conservancy on river cleanups, then transformed reclaimed plastic bags into sculptures. The resulting film and sculptural works are currently displayed alongside images documenting microplastic pollution in local waterways in BRAHM’s Alexander Community Gallery. To close the exhibit, BRAHM will host a performance of the Trash Trout Motion Picture Show featuring local musicians and dancers, Trevor McKenzie and Julie Shepherd-Powell, who will perform a live soundtrack as the film is projected.
Hors d’oeuvres and a wine bar will be provided.
Photo: Trash Trout Motion Picture Show performance and 2022 Cucalorus Film Festival. Trevor McKenzie (left) and Julie Shepard-Powell (right). Image courtesy of Tom Hansell.
