Park Place Artist Spreads Awareness through "Rain Barrels on Parade"

Julie Stunden is promoting the use of rain barrels through both life and art.

The Park Place resident has three of her own around her house and now is taking part in an art project designed to raise awareness about stormwater runoff and the use of barrels.

“I’ve thought about painting the three we have here but when you’re an artist, there are so many possibilities,” Stunden said. “If you’re doing it for someone else, you can cement your plans more easily. But now I am thinking of assigning my kids a rain barrel each!”

“Rain Barrels on Parade” is the initiative in which Stunden, a part-time art professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is participating, with American Eagle Outfitters Foundation and Stormworks sponsoring. The goal is to creatively raise awareness of Pittsburgh’s stormwater issues. Several artists are participating by painting their own barrels.

Stunden, who also does work with , an organization working with students in Wilkinsburg, said the rain barrel project was a perfect extension of recycled art projects she was already creating. In one recent recycled sculpture compiled of old plastic bottles, a dome was created while a “message for change” is written on a piece of paper within each container.

“When the stormwater awareness came about, it was all about what we did with the recycled bottles,” Stunden said.

And that’s where her design for the rain barrel comes in—aqua green and blue shades of water swirl while fish are dressed in water bottle labels and Mountain Dew labels. Stunden says she may have been inspired by a viral photograph she found online of a turtle’s shell that was disfigured from plastic pollution that was caught around its body.

“It was just horrendous,” she said.

StormWorks is a social enterprise created to support the mission of the by implementing responsible stormwater management techniques throughout the Nine Mile Run watershed and beyond its boundaries.

The final painted rain barrels will be showcased at Watershed’s annual fundraiser this weekend and at the Allegheny Green & Innovation Festival. They also will be placed at high-traffic locations within the city, including businesses and city buildings, from June to August.

Stunden said she also would encourage others to get a rain barrel for their homes as well.

“The main issue is reducing the amount of storm runoff that goes into the storm drain, which then overflows into the stream,” Stunden said. “I walk my dogs and kids down at the park all the time. That plays a huge role in the way the water system is working.”

In September, the rain barrels will be auctioned off to be used in homes and local businesses. Proceeds will go toward educational stormwater programming in the fall and subsequent spring.

StormWorks aims to further the work of NMRWA by meeting stormwater service needs at two key levels: a suite of stormwater management and mitigation services to the greater Pittsburgh area, and consultant services at regional levels.

StormWorks specializes in providing various products and services, ranging from the installation of rain barrels and cisterns, the design and installation of rain gardens and permeable pavement, complete landscape design, and stormwater property consultations.