Jan. 10, 2014—This morning, local painter, Helen Hui-ling Liu, was busy installing her original art piece/backdrop for tonight’s Laura Wayte concert, "American Luminosity: Our Poets, Our Composers, Our Art" at Beall Concert Hall. This will mark the second year that Wayte and Liu have collaborated on a project of this kind, where the two women interpret the same idea through the lenses of their vastly different art forms.

The painting, entitle “Between Hope and Despair” is oil on plastic bags, packaging tape, glue, charcoal and permanent marker and is 20 feet wide and 12 feet tall.

“I have been saving plastic bags for about two and a half years for the simple reason of not wanting them to end up in the landfill, in the rivers, or in the ocean. Every plastic bag, small and large, that is not recyclable (around here) and can be cleaned and dried easily, I save,” Liu wrote in her artist’s statement for tonight’s program.

After the concert, audience members will be invited to look closer at the piece and a lucky 15 who have made a minimum donation of $25 to BRING Recycling, will get to take a 4x4 piece home. Liu dedicated the painting in memory of her mother, Sue-Chung Liu, who she says was “always my biggest fan.”

Wayte’s concert is tonight a 7:30 p.m. at Beall Concert Hall in the Frohnmayerr Music Building on the UO campus. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 students and seniors and can be purchased ahead of time through the UO ticket office, or at the door. The concert will also be live-streamed.