River of Life - Bread of Life - Environmental Paper Art Project by Shirah Miriam (Mimi) Aumann

Visit Shirah Miriam Aumann's Photo Gallery of the Event

The "River of Life - Bread of Life" was a community collaborative, environmental art installation created as a grand opening event for the new Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center in Springfield, MO. The goal was to create the "longest paper river in the world' and that it present a strong environmental message...

A Recycle Drive was started in local elementary schools and classroom papers shredded to create the raw materials for the river. The pulp was then pigmented with non-toxic blue and non-GMO winter wheat seeds were added. As the paper bio-degrades and returns to the earth, the seeds will germinate and form a beautiful "green" river of wheat to blow gently in the breezes of winter -- evolving to form "amber waves of grain" in the spring.

Photos taken and Video produced by Hiltrud "Sam" Webber.

The environmental messages of this installation are about recycling; preserving our fragile waterways for both quality and quantity; and cautioning against the alteration of our seeds that affect our food chain and our health in negative ways. Shirah Miriam "Mimi" Aumann of Branson West, MO, is the fibre artist who directed the land art project and envisioned its concepts. The River of Life - Bread of Life - was a community collaborative, environmental art installation created as a grand opening event for the Springfield Greene County Botanical Center in Springfield, Missouri. The goal was to create the longest paper river in the world with a strong environmental message.

A Recycle Drive was started in local elementary schools and classroom papers shredded to create the raw material for the river. The pulp was then pigmented with non-toxic blue and non GMO winter wheat seeds were added. As the paper bio-degrades and returns to the earth, the seeds will germinate and form a beautiful green river of wheat to blow gently in the breezes of winter - evolving to form amber waves of grain in the spring. The environmental messages of this installation are about recycling; preserving our fragile waterways for both quality and quantity; and cautioning against the alteration of seeds that affect our food chain and our health in negative ways.

Shirah Miriam (Mimi) Aumann of Branson, West, Missouri, is the fibre artist who directed and envisioned its concepts.