Last Fall, the University issued a campus-wide ban on the sale of bottled water, ushered in by student activists and celebrated with the installation of a Davis Center arbor constructed entirely of plastic bottles. In keeping to academic values of sustainable growth, Fleming opened its East Gallery doors Feb 12 for the premier of High Trash.The exhibit showcases work assembled with the recycle-reuse-reduce-reinvent mantra in mind.Its all really cool, especially after staring at this for more than 20 minutes, senior gallery attendant, Ben Davis, said from his station behind Alan Emerson Hicks chandelier of plastic hangers. Held together by cable, the white plastic prism projects a twisting shadow of smaller shapes on the walls.Davis neighbor, Japanese artist Sayaka Ganzs life-size cheetah, is an explosion of red-orange plastic. Hundreds of like-colored objects form its body. Small sandbox shovels and kitchen utensils strengthen its lean neck lurching forward.I thought the exhibit was going to be just plastic bottles and trash, but it is actually a lot of different mediums, senior Julie Ho said. I like the [cast-bronze] trash bags [by Lars Fisk]. There is all this colorful stuff thrown together so it really stands out.Fisks Trashbags is a maquette of a six-foot marble sculpture he created in 2008. Another marble Fisk, The Triumph of Styrofoam, maintains the conversation echoed by each piece on display: the paradox of trashs disposable permanence.Objects deemed useless ask visitors to question their short lifespan.From the East Gallery entry, a painting by Tom Deininger brightens the room with a blue wave spiraling into a sandy yellow shore. A closer inspection reveals its sculptural qualities.Inside the 3-D wave of nostalgia is a latticework of grotesque beheaded Barbies and unwound VHS tapes. In his statement, Deininger explains his work as a physical and symbolic manifestation of our consumer society – a planet littered with disposable, valueless goods.Michel de Broins Dead Star is where drained batteries go to die. Re-using used batteries of different sizes, purpose and color, Broin has constructed a kidney bean-shaped sculpture of creative, residual energy.Visitors conversed at a cash bar and sampled an assortment of hors doeuvres as President Tom Sullivan commended the University for its green initiatives and Fleming curators for their artistic intuition.This is an amazing gallery and consistent with the curation [at the Fleming] – the fusion of student ideas and faculty, President Sullivan said at the opening event. Tonight we celebrate that creativity and imaginationfor this Universitys forward-looking ban on bottled water and commitment to the environment.Davis is optimistic about High Trashs potential to educate community members on rethinking trash.UVM definitely has a green campus. For example, the UVM lofts are LEED certified, we just banned water bottles, so some [people] are definitely environmentally conscious, Davis said. [It is important] just seeing the stuff we throw away and how it is still useful.High Trash is open to the public until May 19.