These boots were made for auctioning
Taking a CEW from the environment
Marco Bucci has a passion for painting portraits.
Having been a hobby for eight years, the 25-year-old illustrator said he likes to explore characters and make them relatable.
"There's just something about putting someone on canvas," said Bucci, a Bloor West resident. "Instead of a photo where it's a literal record of them, (portrait painting) is an interpretation through the language of brush strokes that I think nowadays has it's own entity."
Bucci's entity came to life in the form of a little girl and boy playfully holding umbrellas on a pair of rubber boots at the second annual Rubber Boot Ball at the Gladstone Hotel on May 1. Hosted by the Citizens' Environment Watch (CEW), a not-for-profit organization that empowers people to take an active role in restoring and sustaining nature by giving communities the tools for educating, monitoring and influencing positive change, the Ball auctioned rubber boots and parasols designed by Bucci and 26 other local artists.
"The inspiration for the Rubber Boot Ball came from our desire to recognize the people we engage in our programs," said Sonia Dong, Interim Executive Director of CEW. "The rubber boot is a simple, yet effective way to call attention to what we do and what we help our participants do, because our participants wear them to monitor the local environment."
The night made a big splash with 150 attendees that danced through the night in their boots and participated in the fundraising silent auction and raffle.
With more than $12,000 raised and about $100,000 in-kind donations - like the prizes, display cases, and the showcasing of the designed boots and parasols at the Bata Shoe Museum and some Brookfield Properties last month - Dong said the money raised will go towards much-needed CEW programs to engage people of all ages in water quality monitoring and action projects that include examining water quality, energy audits and conservation plans.
CEW president Brent Gilmour adds, "We want to help people learn and understand what's going on in their environment and educate them on how they can make a difference."
