DEQ News Release

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 21, 2018

Tire Sculpture Exhibition set for March 2–16, 2018

NORTH LITTLE ROCK—The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has teamed up with Arkansas artists Danny Campbell and Alice Guffey Miller, as well as students from Maumelle High School and eStem High School, to highlight new legislation regarding the disposal of tires. ADEQ has asked the artists and art students to create tire sculptures to be exhibited March 2nd through 16th, 2018, on the second floor rotunda of the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock. Admission is free to the public, and all ages are encouraged to visit.

The Arkansas Legislature passed Act 317 in 2017, creating the Used Tire Recycling and Accountability Program (TAP). The program, implemented by Arkansas’s eleven Solid Waste Districts with support from ADEQ, replaces and improves upon Arkansas's former waste tire program by initiating an electronic uniform used tire manifest system to increase accountability. It also provides incentives for used tire recycling, equalizes fee collection, and creates the Used Tire Recycling Fund.

Through this program, landfilling tires is a last resort. The tires will first be considered for uses such as tire-derived fuel that can be used to power equipment such as boilers in mills and plants, or long-lasting mulch that can be used for landscaping or as a soft surface for playgrounds.

Campbell’s work is a natural fit for a tire art installation at the Arkansas Capitol. Before a life-changing car accident in which an eighteen-wheeler blew a tire and the spinning tread of that tire narrowly missed killing him, his artwork was fairly traditional. But since the accident, he has been on a mission to remove bits of tire tread, car bumpers, shattered grilles, and other debris from highways. He uses these found objects to produce wall-mounted and free-standing sculptures, hoping to transform what would otherwise be dangerous trash into expressive, beautiful compositions. Campbell, an Arkansas native, is chairman of the Department of Art and Design at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Miller is an Arkansas native known around the state for her unique art pieces. A hallmark of her work is community involvement, and she has produced public art across Arkansas. Miller has works permanently installed at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library, Bernice Garden, and the Historic Arkansas Museum.

CONTACT: Kelly Robinson (Robinson@adeq.state.ar.us or 501.682.0916)

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