Cranford Strings 10,000 Lids on 30 Strands

Flip Your Lid for Art organizers and participants celebrated the completion of a community-wide endeavor to collect thousands of plastic lids and string them from the ceiling of the Cranford Community Center on Friday.

Cranford schools, groups and individuals recycled over 10,000 plastic lids, dropping them in donation bins throughout town to be attached to 30 10- to 12-foot strands and hanged in an artistic display of environmental awareness and community unity.

"I think its fair to say we (those who worked on the project) were very pleased by the outcome, both from the standpoint of the process, which was meant to bring together various groups within the town to achieve a common goal," said Ann Darby, former commissioner and project participant. "Who knew something so humble as a bunch of plastic lids could be transformed into something so eye-catching?"

Flip Your Lid was a joint venture between the Cranford-based Jersey Central Art Studios, the Cranford Environmental Commission, Cranford Recreation and Parks Department and the Cranford Community Center.

"This is a fun thing where people can participate without needing to have any real artistic talent, and can get involved in recycling," said Jersey Central Art Studios president Deb Leber.

Leber said she first got the idea from seeing a similar project in Beachwood, Ohio.

"I'm always looking for art projects that incorporate other organizations and can get more of the community involved with creating art," she said.

Many of the contributions came from school-sponsored efforts.

Orange Avenue School teachers June Brown and Nevil Schwartz planned a Trash to Treasures Concert and Contest to help raise plastic lids for the project, according to media reports. Concert attendees had to provide at least one lid to gain admittance.

Brown was unsure as to how many lids her students collected when Patch spoke to her in the fall, but believed that number was in the thousands. She said she is happy to help with the project because it combines two of her greatest passions: art and environmentalism.

"It was just something that spoke to me," she said. "It's conservation-related and it's also art-related, so it really seemed like a wonderful thing. I love the community connection."

The Cranford Environmental Commission hopes the exhibit will motivate Cranford residents to recycle more items, more regularly.

"I think that exhibit looks great," said Nelson Dittmar, chair of the commission. "It will be a constant reminder about recycling while it is up."

This is not the only art-related project Jersey Central Art Studios has in store for Cranford this year.

In June, JCAS will plant nationally-know fine artists throughout the town. The artists will create original oil, pastel, acrylic and watercolor paintings of Cranford landmarks to be sold at a later art show and sale. The event will be co-sponsored by the Cranford Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown District Management Corporation.

Read Cranford Patch for more on these town-wide art endeavors.