Local Artist, Nicole Chochrek, goes to Florida to Share her Work on Microplastics

Local Artist, Nicole Chochrek, goes to Florida to Share her Work on Microplastics with the community at Florida Atlantic University

Artist Nicole Chochrek, recently graduated from the University at Buffalo, in partnership with the Center for Exploratory & Perceptual Arts (CEPA Gallery) and Creative Rebuild New York, showcases Buffalo’s creative talent by creating micro-plastic cleanup initiatives and neurodiversity awareness workshops for communities in Erie and Niagara County. She has now been invited to expand her project to South Florida. Nicole’s work invites community members to both remove litter from the environment and partner to create public sculptures. With microplastics accounting for a large form of pollution in South Florida, Nicole’s project is one that the community can greatly benefit from. Nicole will be flown to South Florida to participate in a panel discussion and host an artist workshop at Florida Atlantic University, a university in Boca Raton, FL, which was just ranked in the U.S. News & World Report list of “Top Public Schools.”

The University Galleries, FAU will present a public lecture and panel discussion: Wasting (Mother) Earth, on October 13, 2022 at 6:30 pm, live-streamed through Zoom to allow participation from Buffalo residents and others beyond the South Florida region. The event is in association with the University Galleries Surplus Reiterations exhibition, in which artists collaborated to select and design exhibition spaces using objects from the University’s “Surplus” operation, where furniture and many other objects go to die or find other users. The public program will also feature keynote speaker Dr. Jane Caputi, Professor of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies and celebrated author. Dr. Caputi will frame the topic by introducing her most recent book, Call Your Mutha: A Deliberately Dirty-Minded Manifesto for the Earth Mother in the Anthropocene. The lecture will be followed by brief responses and a Q&A session by two additional expert environmental professionals alongside Nicole- her point of view as an artist will offer a unique and informative perspective to the panel discussion.

In addition to the panel discussion, Nicole will host several workshops that guide participants through activities as they scavenge for microplastics in the environment. It uses both the observational sciences and arts to expand understanding and to reflect. It will illustrate what to look for, what not to pick up, and other important information to consider. The activity will allow participants to choose different ways to explore this material and speculate on its ambiguity. Nicole will challenge the public’s relationship to microplastics, clearly see its impact, and provide space to utilize it as a free, abundant, and accessible material.

FAU’s University Galleries are open Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 4 pm and Saturday from 1 to 5 pm. School and group tours can be scheduled by appointment by contacting Helen Edmunds at UGMuseumEd@fau.edu. The Schmidt Center Gallery is located in the Performing Arts building (building #51), near the Living Room Theaters. Daytime visitors must obtain a temporary one-day parking pass online for $5 at http://parking.fau.edu to park in Parking Garage 2 for Schmidt Center Gallery. There are also Parkmobile mobile app meters in the parking lot just north of the entrance to Parking Garage 2 that only accept credit or debit card payment. 2022-23 University Galleries Exhibitions and Programs are supported by the Isadore and Kelly Friedman University Galleries Fund; Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Museum Education Programs made possible by the Kaye Arts Integration Endowment. For more information, call 561-297-2661, email autley2018@fau.edu or visit www.fau.edu/galleries.

CEPA is generously supported through Creatives Rebuild New York, the New York State Council on the Arts, Erie County, and the Joy of Giving Something Foundation.

– FAU –

About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.