Advocacy through Art

A child therapist by training, Heather often used art as a tool with her clients in therapy. She has always been oriented toward creativity – she is a published author and a hobby jewelry maker – but never had any formal training. Heather has an active mind that is rarely still, which leads her to be always busy reading, learning, doing, and making. Whether by accident or as a natural progression of things, Heather started to connect her love of the environment with her talent to create. In 2023, she founded No More Liddering, a nonprofit with a mission to “turn waste into wonder." Among many other partnerships throughout Metro Atlanta, No More Liddering works closely with My Green Earth to provide environmentally-themed STEAM programs for Cobb County schools.

A self-described tree-hugger, Heather always cared for the earth on an individual level through upcycling Goodwill finds to recycling. The more she learned about the realities of plastics, the more she was moved to do something about it and spread her knowledge to anyone who would listen.

Heather first “got the ick” for plastics when she started realizing the enormity of plastic waste and the fact that it never, ever goes away. Even plastics that can break down after years and years, end up continuing their life as a part of the organisms and soil around it, in the form of nanoplastics.

She started to spread awareness through collecting plastic bottle lids – from sodas, sports drinks, pharmaceutical bottles – and cleaning and sorting them, eventually turning them into amazing pieces of art that are not only beautiful, but make a strong statement on viewers without saying a word.

In just 18 months, Heather’s mission has exploded in the Atlanta metro area. Her artwork can be seen in corporate offices of Mitsubishi Electric, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Fernbank Science Center, American Heart Association, and many more. Her recent collaboration with Georgia Tech’s Tech Square has a lot of people talking. Working with students, she has helped to construct artwork and shared the principle that if everybody changes just a little bit, we could make such a huge difference.

Examples of this could include no longer buying beverages in plastic containers and carrying reusable grocery bags. Heather’s mantra has become “Reduce, reuse, refuse!”. In fact, Heather realized when providing drinks and snacks to her daughter’s sports team, that schools could make a huge impact by simply not allowing plastic bottles on their sports fields.

It’s not just at home or school where big impacts can happen. Heather would love to see Cobb County stores begin to train cashiers to always ask customers whether they want a plastic shopping bag instead of automatically providing one. The impact, when implemented in even one shopping center could be enormous.

No More Liddering can work with your business or school in creating your own pieces by providing art kits and events. Contact Heather for more information at nomoreliddering@gmail.com. If you are interested in a full STEAM program incorporating Heather's art with K-8 schools alongside environmental lessons and programs, let's make it happen!