When I created Green With Indy, I created the tagline, “the circle of life of food”. My vision was of a company that facilitated all aspects of local food production, specifically as it relates to urban agriculture via the growth of kitchen and community gardens. The idea is to encourage residential vegetable gardening, especially for our youth and families in need, and to bring back the family dinner hour. Families eating together and communing around a dinner table in 2023... what a notion! But most important is the motivation and necessity to mitigate climate change and save our children’s future.
I have done the work proving that curbside compost collection can work in Indiana. Now is the time to use the wisdom gained from my experiences to fully develop the deeper meaning of Green With Indy. It’s also time to use all my talents to bring forward the full vision of Green With Indy.
I am an artist. Specifically, I paint. Creativity birthed Green With Indy and now I would like art to help develop its full potential. Why art and its varied expressions? There has always been a connection between the environment and artists. Environmental artists often use natural materials such as leaves, flowers, and branches as the very basis of their artwork. These materials are also the foundation of composting.
Environmental artists often seek to both transform the way that a site is viewed and interacted with, while also revealing what was already there, and how it is used. That’s where art intersects with the environment. This challenges viewers to rethink how they "see" the world around them and pay more direct attention to the minute and distinct parts that make up what we may overlook. Moreover, in choosing to situate their work in specific ways and places, e.g., Indiana, the impact can be transformative. Permaculture landscaping is an aspect using native plants and habitats to save our soil and revitalize grow zones for humans and animals alike. By intersecting art and agriculture we can keep people engaged in what is produced visually and consumed. Crop art proves the example idea.
My paintings reflect the urban environment around us – the people and places we don’t always see, even when looking right at them. The mundane, the everyday, the overlooked. The lonely. The homeless. The hopeless. And, the flashes of hope, of dignity, of community.
I want to use my paintings to raise $1.5 million by 2025 so that GWI has established the foundation to transform the city’s composting ambitions to introduce curbside recycling, with compost pick-up available by subscription. So, through a series of art sales and events we will transform GWI into what it is meant to be.
I appreciate your support in fulfilling these objectives:
Establishing GWI as the dominant Indianapolis home-grown curbside compost collection service in the region to lay the foundation for the rebirth of victory gardens and urban agriculture.
Establishing a networked community of urban growers to share their bounty so that no one goes hungry.
To keep people engaged in composting, gardening, and home cooking as a family by supporting urban agriculture via local artist expressions, utilizing various grow system methods and design.
To educate and engage people in reducing their carbon footprint via natural waste management in support of urban agriculture, while also helping to create a sustainable and livable world. Crucial to this is the use of art to keep us engaged while we all learn.
Having said all of that, buy my art. Join me on this journey. It’s going to be wonderful.
Visit www.gpapi.art to see what I do when I am not collecting food waste for composting.
Thank you,
Greg F. Walton, a.k.a., GPapi.
