Plastic Fantastic — Orange Pill Bottles Transformed into Beautiful, Thought-Provoking Art by Fountain House Gallery

We all have empty orange prescription bottles cluttering up drawers and shelves — useless, unattractive, plastic trash. But Fountain House Gallery takes another view, and is hard at work turning those unwanted containers into something… beautiful.

Artist Alyson Vega is in the midst of Meditations on Medication : The Pill Bottle Project , an evolving community installation currently taking shape on Governors Island. Using as many empty prescription bottles as they can get their hands on, Fountain House members and staff are hosting collaborative Open Studio Art Making sessions with members of the public and artists on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11am-5pm now through August 11 – and everyone is welcome to join in.

At Nolan Park #8B, the bottles are already beginning to take on new shapes. One installation looks like a fireplace with glowing orange flames. Another turns pill bottles into twinkling lights, while a third features bottles arranged in a towering heap, inviting discussions about plastic waste.

“Please come dance with us on Governors Island. Be a part of the story,” Alyson wrote on Instagram, “Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.” More bottles are needed, and they can be dropped off in a collection bin at Fountain House Gallery, 702 9th Avenue. Please take the label off your bottles or Sharpie over private information.

“I was looking at the number of bottles I used in one month, and I lined them up empty and I thought, this is crazy,” said Alyson. “So I made a picture and then I doubled it and doubled and doubled it for impact to show how many I used in a year. And it just gave me the idea —what are we doing? I did some research on the kinds of plastics, and it’s so hard to recycle.”

The idea of making art from the otherwise pretty useless and difficult to recycle receptacles was born. “I put out a call on NextDoor and was getting messages like ‘can you pick them up?’ Some people I don’t even know volunteered to go around and collect — and then they drop them off in my lobby. It’s amazing,” said Alyson. “One woman wrote back and said how she’s in so much pain all the time and she just felt like it was great that they were being used in such a beautiful way.”

The work has certainly struck a chord with people, Rachel Weisman, Fountain House Gallery director, told W42ST. “This year, we decided that it would be really incredible to do a community based installation so that anyone could come and join and we could open it up to so many more of our artists and Fountain House members,” she said. “It’s really impactful when people come and rid themselves of all the bottles that [they have] accumulated.”

Rachel added: “I think it’s also powerful to see the full spectrum of people’s reflections on this. There are so many different avenues of accessibility of how people interact with the artworks. The bottles are made of such a ubiquitous material and to change this object into something else feels very special.”

Meditations of Medication is just one of many art installations and events being held on Governors Island this summer. “The burgeoning arts and culture scene that has grown on Governors Island during the past few years has become the home to some of the most anticipated exhibitions and performances not only in New York City but across the world, and this year is no exception,” said Lauren Haynes, Head Curator and Vice President for Arts and Culture at Governors Island Arts. “We encourage art lovers from all walks of life to visit this season and take in the many varied programs and exhibits on offer from our numerous cultural partners.”

More information about the wide-ranging program can be found here .

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