May 5, 2003 – With art and craft items about to take over its campers' convenience store, Maho Bay Camps solved the problem by opening its own art gallery to showcase objects made of recycled materials by its artists in residence and staff.
Ginger Kreofsky, who heads up Maho Bay's art center, said the Art Gallery — that's its real name — is open from 8 a.m. to noon and from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
She said the objects on display include hand-blown glass vases, bowls and other items made of recycled beverage bottle glass; handmade paper crafted from used office paper and commercial clothes dryer lint; and ceramic art created by resident potter Gail Van de Bogurt and fired in a kiln that is heated by using recycled wood.
"Prices run from $3 to $475," Kreofsky said.
The Art Gallery is located down a flight of stairs from the Pavilion Restaurant at the eco-resort on St. John's North Shore. It's the latest in a series of initiatives in Maho Bay Camps' "Trash to Treasures" program.
The campground set the pace for recycling on St. John years ago when it began turning crushed glass bottles into suncatchers, vases and other decorative items. The recycling program continues to expand, Kreofsky said.
Recently, Maho Bay installed the new kiln to fire Van de Bogurt's pottery that uses wood pallets as fuel. Pallets arrive continuously on St. John stacked with all manner of necessities; usually they end up at the Susannaberg landfill. The new kiln provides an alternative way to dispose of at least some of them.
"We've fired up the kiln twice," Kreofsky said.
In related news, the campground announced that resident glass-blowing artist Matthew Buechner will be working at Maho Bay until June. He and his wife, Adrian, own Thames Glass in Newport, Rhode Island.
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