Tire Pollution Public Awareness !

What is this project ?

CA ROULE is an Eco-Art project raising public awareness about tire pollution and the need for SOLUTIONS to this global problem.

wait…aren’t tires Recyclable?

Up-cycling, or Recycling tires is a very difficult subject.  First off, tires, as the subject stands today, make up  28 percent of microplastic pollution found in the open ocean, and that is just run off from their use on our roads.  There have been efforts of grinding up tires and using them in for sidewalks or even paving, however, this too, presents plastic pollution problems.  A far too great a number are merely burned or buried.  Many individuals have made successful use of them as eco-houses, and while admirable, doesn’t take into consideration the scale of used tires that exist in the world.  The tire industry has their own website, the public face of an NGO founded by 11 CEO’s from leading Tire Manufacturers, you can read their views here.  Eco-Artist John K. Melvin has made many public awareness projects about plastic pollution and you can read about them here.

Eco-Artist John K. Melvin is raising pubilc Awareness!

 

 

SO what is this project about?

Ça Roule, 2024

For two years, with the support of the Pont-Aven town hall, John K. Melvin developed an innovative community garden project using used tires from the former Belle Angèle factory as a support.

Installed on the former industrial site, this work is dedicated to the city of Pont-Aven, acting as a connector of the memory of this site which hosted a karting circuit, as a last hope for reconversion, while stimulating discussions on the future of abandoned spaces and waste.

But why did John do this?

CA ROULE invites public debate on the environmental and societal impact of our consumer choices. By using used and abandoned tires in this industrial site, John K. Melvin seeks to raise awareness and challenge the international community on the ecological and social responsibilities linked to the use of tires, omnipresent materials and extremely problematic at the end of their life.

John wants the whole world to think about tire solutions!

We all use tires, but how many of us think about what happens when we throw them away, or WEAR them out on the roads?

Tires represent 28% of microplastic pollution in the oceans. Attempts to recycle them, such as turning them into paving stones or building materials, have not solved the problem of plastic pollution, nor toxic pollution, let alone managing the scale of tire waste.

4 billion used tires are stored in landfills worldwide and 1 billion new wastes are added each year, when they are not burned or buried in illegal dumps.

Alternative design or reuse solutions are emerging but not yet viable…

We need tire solutions!

“CA ROULE” was designed to stimulate public dialogue around these issues and to encourage the development of sustainable alternatives for both design and recycling.

How did John do it?

John K. Melvin used the “cradle to cradle” design method, an innovative approach that invites us to rethink the way we design our products, by anticipating their future from the start, with their end in mind! This design strategy aims to create products that can be reused, recycled or recovered, minimizing waste and pollution.

This work perfectly illustrates how thinking about the end of life of materials can not only encourage reducing environmental impact, but also stimulate exchanges within the community. By reusing used materials, it creates a space for dialogue and collaboration, while raising public awareness of the importance of sustainability.

For this work, the artist first had to think about how he was going to assemble the sculpture with the least amount of material handling in order to limit manufacturing pollution. Therefore, his process did not involve any major transformation.

The artist then integrated a human and community dimension, with a dual objective. The first is the involvement of the community of local actors from Pont-Aven and its surroundings, who contributed financially and logistically to the construction of the work; Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the community is invited to garden inside the tires, constituting a support for the plantations of endemic and local species, requiring little maintenance (mosses, ferns, etc.).

Due to the toxic chemicals contained in the composite material of the tire, edible plants are expressly prohibited.

Want to know more about Eco-Artist John K. Melvin ?

here’s his artist statement,

We live in a post-truth world. Climate change has provided us with an unprecedented context for understanding our relationship with our environment. Our world is grappling with economic and ecological realities, but we do not universally see the evidence of their interdependence.

I uncover these interdependent relationships and present them in artwork to provoke dialogue. I believe that through the dialogue it provokes, art can be a catalyst for change.

In my practice, I create totems, installations, and other structures to spark intercultural dialogue aimed at transcending differences and finding similarities. I have researched and developed these themes throughout my work and believe that I am contributing to the collective effort to reduce social entropy.

If we can find common ground and disseminate progressive and proactive solutions, humanity can move forward by embracing a collective vision while respecting individualities.

This is my whole project: discovering other cultures through direct immersion and creating through experimentation and community collaboration. My goal is to nourish the dialogue on ecological sustainability. I regularly integrate social practices and participatory methods into my creations, such as cleanups, material collections, workshops and exhibitions to raise awareness of the pollution/consumption relationship, all over the world.

I hope to play a positive role in a progressive dialogue that will lead generations towards proactive collaboration. Despite the scale of the challenge and negative media influences, I remain optimistic about our ability to act together. I aspire to inspire concrete actions and constructive dialogue to address these ecological and societal challenges.

Together, let’s choose a sustainable future.

A timeline of tire pollution public awareness…

CA ROULE development summary, in chronological order, beginning from the most recent update moving back in time…

3rd of September,

Its the 3rd of September, and I need to rest again.  Sorry folks, muscles are pulled and I need a week or two off.  Image above is how the project is now.  Hopefully, I’ll get back out there and finish hanging the tires before the end of the year. Planting is now going to be in the spring, we missed our autumn window.  Thanks so much for the support.

A short heatwave mixed with tendinitis and muscle pain, so I took some time off, but here below are the tires as of the 15th of August.  Forward!!

CA ROULE, Tires as of 15-8, John K. Melvin, Pont-Aven, 2024

Steel Phase finished!!!

Its July 11th, and the steel fabrication phase is finished, it took a lot of welding, between weather days and fatigue, I got it done.  Thanks again for the scaffolding, the friendly hellos, and all the encouragement from friends and neighbors.

You may notice a Peace flag, in the midst of the elections here in France and of course all the negative news in the world, I felt inspired to put up the PEACE flag, it has Peace written in all languages, and as is the tradition with steel fabrication, but instead of a christmas tree or national flag, I put up a message of PEACE.  Going forward, at CA ROULE, all nations, all races, everyone, regardless of their beliefs or lifestyle, are welcome in this space.

Welding 13 weeks!

For the past two weeks since my last update, I’ve been welding the 50 cm posts that receive 2m sleeve sidearms and uprights.  Its all 3mm steel tube, and arc welded on site.  I’m doing several passes, building up the welds, layer by layer, and grinding out pits and inclusions.  I’m expecting a fair amount of weight, once the tires get loaded with planting medium, and of course rain which we get a lot here, but the calculations are correct, I’ve verified them with local professionals.

here’s a time-lapse video collage of the past two weeks.  Enjoy, and thanks for all the support, previous updates on the project follow below…

8th week of fabrication

We are nearing the end of May, or the 8th week overall in fabrication (5 weeks in my studio).  Things are going very well, as I joke with visitors to my public worksite, the ground floor has been done, and I’m starting on the first floor of my public sculpture, which will become a community garden!  There has been a lot of rain, and more than a few days spent taking tools in and out of the car, but I am so thankful to the community support, thank you for the scaffold Jean-Francois!!, and the good humor shared with everyone.  My grandfather believed in honest work, and I feel I’m making him proud!!  On that note, we had a bit of press,

 

1st Week of Public Sculpture on Site!

The 11th of May marks the end of the first week of sculpture construction on site in front of the old factory.  Getting to the 11th of May was quite a process, as is to be expected in public art, we had a few delays with getting power on the site, and after a bit of head scratching, I rented a generator here in the community.

Welding with a generator is new experience for me, but luckily I managed to get a powerful enough generator.  Its a good formula for welders to know for a variety of reasons, Volts x Amps = Watts, if not the least, so you can quickly know what size generator you’ll need.  Another shortcut, is 1.5 times the input voltage, but this can be misleading in my opinion, and its better to use the formula, Volts x Amps = Watts for determining welding generator sizes.

Anyway, I digress, this is was what I learned, and then I quickly got to work drilling, mounting, welding, painting, and hydrating during a mini heat wave here in Brittany.  Below, is a quick little video I put together that sums up this past week of public sculpture in Pont-Aven Brittany, including lunch…enjoy the video, and thanks for all the support.

 

Steel delivered March 22, 2024,

I set to work immediately in my studio producing the four stanchion bases that will be bolted to the concrete slab at the site.  In the photo, you can see three, orange tape capped steel upright bases, and one upside down base in the background on the welding table.  They are my own design, based on the materials provided and of course, trying to use up scrap where ever I can.  The center post in each base receives a sleeve that is the first 2m of the total 4m height of the project.

 

The Service Technique of Pont-Aven erected a very nice fence to protect the project during its construction phase.   All projects have their delays and this project secured a last minute sponsor that promised a great amount of aid to the project, and delivery of materials was postponed.  Also, more humbly, I spent a lot of energy generating the community support, thank you again to all who participated; only once the crowdfunding was done, did I have time to spend on the sequence of construction.

The 18th of December 2023,

I had the first of many logistical meetings with the Service Technique of Pont-Aven.  It was a great meeting!  There was a real ‘can-do’ attitude amongst the managers, we agreed on everything, and collaborated on some very practical but creative solutions.  As soon as construction is finished, we will plant some phytoremediation plants inside the tires.

Here’s an article we had in October, 2023, revealing Division but also talks about the beginning of the my public art project, Ca Roule !!!

Tire Pollution Public Awareness…PROJECT FUNDED!!

The initial crowdfunding for the project finished online November 6th, 2023, and then here locally,  March 1st, 2024.  More funding is always welcome, please feel free to contact me directly, and should another round be necessary, this page will be updated.  The first round was only for the basic materials to begin construction.  I’m so very thankful to the sponsors of this public sculpture in Pont-Aven and its a delight to share them with you.  If you haven’t been following along, please read my previous post about this project.  It really takes a community!!!  Thank you so much!!

 

 

 

This blog post on tire pollution public awareness will be updated as the CA ROULE project progresses.  Please feel free to bookmark and check back frequently.

 

Thanks again, and cheers.  John