HANCOCK, Maine — July 14, 2014 — Rope no longer deemed suitable for lobstermen purchased by New York City artist for new projects.
One coiled bunch of rope after another was delivered by the pickup truck load to Coastal Recycling Center on Route 182 on Friday.
Roughly eight hours later, more than 40 boxes, each containing 64 cubic feet in volume, had been filled with the old fishing line, enough to fill a tractor-trailer. The ultimate destination for the rope is the Far East, according to organizers of the collection effort.
Down East Maine lobstermen, having deemed the rope no longer suitable, were selling it for a price of 50 cents per pound, roughly one-fourth the price of what they paid for it but half a dollar more than they would get if they were to throw it away. Several fisherman brought in a few thousand pounds of rope and received more than $1,000 in return.
The rope is being recycled, in a way, though its usefulness for catching fish has passed. About 1,000 pounds of the rope was loaded into a small pickup truck by Michelle Kinerson, owner of Cape Porpoise Trading Co., who was taking it back to Kennebunkport to weave it into doormats.
The rest of it — more than 40,000 pounds — was purchased by Orly Genger, and she wants more of it. The New York City artist, whose large woven-rope landscape sculptures have garnered hercritical acclaim in recent years, has a goal of collecting 200,000 pounds in order to have more than 2 million linear feet of rope, which she estimates she will need for her next piece.
Laura Ludwig works for the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and manages the buyback program for Genger. She said Friday other buyback sessions will be scheduled in Maine and other New England states in order to collect the amount of rope Genger needs. She said the sessions are expected to be spread throughout the next 18 months.
The rope collected in Hancock on Friday is expected to be shipped down to Brooklyn, New York, in the next week or so, Ludwig said. It eventually will become part of a permanent piece on display in South Korea, she said, but she did not know any other details about the planned artwork.
Genger, contacted Saturday by email, confirmed the rope collected in Hancock on Friday is for a permanent piece that will be installed in South Korea, but said she could not release other details.
Genger said she used to work with rock-climbing rope, but since she began acquiring much larger quantities of old fishing line, her work has changed dramatically. By using the rope in a new, unintended way, it creates an element of potential surprise for people see her work up close.
Read the full story at Bangor Daily News