and finally tonight addressing an environmental crisis through ART a Newark native and world-renowned artist recently unveiled two of his Larger than Life sculptures using unlikely materials the very items he says are killing the planet Melissa Rose Cooper has our story these might just look like a bunch of empty water bottles to the average person but for Willie Cole he sees a bigger picture I'm turning ways into Beauty but in general waste is hiding the beauty when the ground is covered with garbage you can't see the grass or the flowers you know these bottles are everywhere so coal is transforming the bottles into large-scale works of art resembling crystal chandeliers two of them the Spirit Catcher And lumen-less Lantern can be seen hanging from the ceiling inside Express Newark at Rutgers University where coal is the current artist in Residence each chandelier is about 3 000 water bottles and the water bottles are thread onto 12 gauge galvanized steel wires or sometimes copper wires the project aims to address newark's own issues with contaminated water so it so in 2019 we had a huge contaminated with lead and the city had to replace those and so obviously people didn't have access to healthy safe drinking water at the same time one response had to be to give people access and so giving people plastic water bottles but then we have a plastic problem on our planet so one crisis leads to another crisis salamisha to let executive director of Express Newark says Cole's work reminds viewers of the importance of recycling while allowing them to re-imagine Solutions people should have access to Safe drinkable water and it's not just a problem in Newark and it wasn't just a problem in Flint and it's not just a problem in Jackson Mississippi but it is a problem that disproportionately affects working-class communities communities with people of color so that's one thing like we should all it should be our right a human right and a fundamental right to have access to healthy water also that we should be responsible about our use of plastic that we shouldn't be contaminating the the planet or home with these really pollutants like that we use them so easily we discard them so freely without thinking about the impact that they're having on us and our future Generations the project is also creating new meaning for coal students how to create something new from a scratch practically like from something that the people don't want to use like the bottle I'm always energized by the younger generation so that's that's been nice they have been learning from me and I've been checking them out to see that they're getting a broader knowledge about what art and art production is about a lot of people just want to do watercolors or drawings if this is Art we can do it in 10 minutes but this takes hours days even months to do so they're learning some willpower and discipline in the process and and I'm going to have to delegate because I usually work alone and for Cole who grew up in Newark he says having his work on display here is a great honor just makes me feel like I'm mixed I'm accepted like I've arrived in this city because I show all over the world but in your hometown it's a little different Cole is currently working on several other chandeliers that are expected to be installed in New York City this spring for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music] [Music]