Majestic Galleries, a nonprofit art gallery in Nelsonville, will host the Pigments Project Exhibition in the fall of 2021. The exhbition will support the community’s local economy and grow the efforts of a partnership dedicated to cleaning Appalachian Ohio’s waterways.

Funding through this Cause Connector project will support the purchase of 30 sets of paints for use by artists in the exhibition.

The art featured in the Pigments Project Exhibition will use paints and pigments created from pollutants as part of a stream remediation effort led by True Pigments, LLC, a project of Rural Action. As part of Rural Action’s work to restore streams polluted by acid mine drainage, True Pigments, LLC extracts pigments from pollutants to create paints, which it then sells to fund Rural Action’s stream remediation work.

By using paints created by True Pigments, LLC, the upcoming Majestic Galleries art exhibition will shine a spotlight on this work to remediate waterways. By attracting visitors, creating opportunities for local artists and supporting partners based in Athens, Hocking, and Perry County, the exhibition and the associated lectures will support community and economic development in the area.

This innovative project leverages community partnerships to make a difference across the areas of Arts & Culture, Community & Economic Development, and Environmental Stewardship.

In a region with less access to charitable resources, local partnerships like this one are finding unique ways to do more with less. Such efforts are shining examples that make an immediate difference and can be scaled up or emulated to create lasting change.