Artist turns trash into tulips

Rotorua artist Nicola Wright is turning bottle tops into something beautiful to share with the community.

Over the last month, workshops have been held inviting locals to help turn discarded bottles and bottle lids that can't be recycled into art in the shape of tulips.

Ms Wright came up with the initiative soon after she discovered that the lids of the bottles which people took to the recycling centre cannot be recycled and often ended up at the landfill.

So instead, she decided to use them to make art and "replant" the creations around The Arts Village.

Yesterday those involved with the workshops, along with Ms Wright and Arts Village programmes co-ordinator Ally Rogers, spent the afternoon putting them on display on the front lawn.

There were about 300 flowers in total.

The project is one of several taking place for Rotorua's inaugural Tulip Festival next weekend, which aims to promote the city's spring gardens which produce about 40,000 tulips each year.

Ms Rogers said the project was a wonderful way to promote local art, and do something to help the environment.

Installing the artwork now was also timely because it was Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week.

She said she was thrilled by how the artwork turned out.

"They look quite wonderful and have become more and more inventive and Dr Seuss-like with each workshop," she said.