Copyright 2003 The Omaha World-Herald Company
Omaha World Herald (Nebraska)
February 5, 2003, Wednesday SUNRISE EDITION
Rainbow Rowell
LENGTH: 576 words
HEADLINE: Ashtray's scarcity challenges artist
BODY:
Not that long ago, 20 years or so, you could walk into almost any house and see an ashtray - probably more than one.
Not tiny, shameful ashtrays tucked into corners and sitting on back porches.
These were glorious, colorful, look-at-me ashtrays. . Swirly glass ashtrays and artful pottery ashtrays. Ashtrays on ostentatious brass ashtray stands. They sat in the middle of tables like centerpieces - in privileged spots now filled by doilies and baskets of silk flowers. Even nonsmokers kept ashtrays around. It was the courteous thing to do. Kids made ashtrays for their parents in art class. (I remember an elementary school teacher showing me how to use a pencil to make cigarette rests.) Businesses handed out ashtrays embossed with their logos. You could even buy ashtrays at Disneyland.
No more.
As a health educator, David Corbin believes the scarcity of ashtrays represents a wonderful trend.
But as someone who is looking for 500 ashtrays, he's a little disturbed. Corbin is a professor of public health and health education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He's working on a big anti-smoking campaign - Snuff Out Tobacco - for April. Part of the plan is to make a giant sculpture from old ashtrays. Gretna artist Jamie Burmeister will design and build the sculpture. Burmeister specializes in recycled art. He works with things that other people throw away - stuff he finds in Dumpsters, junk.
Both Corbin and Burmeister figured there were more than enough forgotten ashtrays still hanging around in people's houses for their sculpture. Ashtrays that were theirs for the asking.
So they asked. Corbin even offered his UNO students extra-credit points for bringing ashtrays to class. Corbin is scouring thrift shops (and expensive antique stores) for ashtrays.
So far, they have collected 80 ashtrays.
I don't think I have to tell you how unimpressive an 80-ashtray sculpture is going to be.
The idea was to present the sculpture as a museum piece from the future, an artifact from the past. (Because at some point, we'll all quit smoking, and won't that be grand?)
Apparently, the ashtray really is going extinct. Where do new smokers buy their ashtrays?
Walgreens and Wal-Mart sell basic models. The shameful, I'm-embarrassed-by-my-filthy-habit kind. If you want an old-fashioned ashtray that looks good with your couch, you have to go to a specialty shop.
Some of the ashtrays Corbin has collected seem to have been lifted from hotels. (The Holiday Inn logo is a dead giveaway.)
If you fancy yourself a patron of the arts, or if you have some junky old ashtrays you would like to get rid of, Corbin and Burmeister would love to have them. There are four ashtray drop-off points:
At UNO, the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building, Room 100. At UNO, in the Milo Bail Student Center, Student Health Services. At the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Center for Healthy Living. At the Metro Omaha Medical Society, 7906 Davenport St.
Then, on April 2, head to UNO to find your ashtray when Burmeister's sculpture is unveiled.
The artist also is working on a 19-foot interactive cigarette sculpture. Kids will be able to walk through the cigarette and learn more about the dangers of smoking. Both sculptures then will be available for schools to use in anti-smoking programs.